Fishes (Jun 2022)

Modeling the Individual Growth of the Bonnethead Shark <i>Sphyrna tiburo</i> of the Western Gulf of Mexico Using the Multimodel Approach

  • Sandra Edith Olmeda-de la Fuente,
  • Jorge Homero Rodríguez-Castro,
  • Jose Alberto Ramírez-de León,
  • Frida Carmina Caballero-Rico,
  • Jorge Alejandro Rodríguez-Olmeda,
  • Filiberto Toledano-Toledano

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7040157
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 4
p. 157

Abstract

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To describe the growth pattern of the bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo) in the Gulf of Mexico, a von Bertalanffy (VB) model has been automatically fit, which indicated a single−phase continuous growth without oscillations, though this would generate biases if this hypothesis is not confirmed. The objective of this research was to describe the growth pattern of S. tiburo under a multimodel approach based on information theory and contrasting single−phase models (VB, Gompertz, logistic models, and variants) and biphasic models (Soriano model and variants). The VB model was not supported. The Soriano model, with the variant in growth rate (k) and including length at birth (L0), was selected with 100% supporting evidence. The hypothesis of the two−phase growth of S. tiburo with an increase in k, more than L∞, fitted to L0, is confirmed, and a correspondence was identified between growth−phase change sizes and the sizes reported in the literature for change in the juvenile–adult stages in females and for onset of reproductive maturity in males and both sexes.

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