Estimating age structure of Liocarcinus depurator along the western Black Sea coast of Türkiye using the Bhattacharya method
Abstract
A total of 2.233 Liocarcinus depurator samples were collected during beam trawl surveys along the northwestern Black Sea coast of Türkiye to analyse the population's age structure. The male-to-female ratio is 2:1. Length-frequency distributions were estimated for four age groups using the Bhattacharya method, with carapace lengths of 0+ = 15.51 mm, I+ = 23.76 mm, II+ = 31.29 mm, and III+ = 36.49 mm for males, and 0+ = 15.35 mm, I+ = 21.36 mm, II+ = 27.18 mm, and III+ = 30.50 mm for females. For all sexes combined, lengths were 0+ = 15.35 mm, I+ = 22.65 mm, II+ = 30.81 mm, and III+ = 36.59 mm. One-way ANOVA showed significant differences in mean length among age groups for the pooled sample, as well as for males and females separately (all p < 0.001). Independent t-tests found no significant difference between sexes in age group 0 (p = 0.59), but significant differences in age groups I, II, and III (p < 0.05 for all). Males were generally larger than females in older age groups, indicating apparent sexual dimorphism and different growth patterns in the population.
Keywords
Age structure, Bhattacharya method, Liocarcinus depurator, Sexual dimorphism, Turkish Black Sea coast
Supporting Institution
Recep Tayyip Erdogan University
Project Number
RTEU BAP FYL 2018-856
Ethical Statement
We declare that our research, the details of which are provided above, is among studies that do not require ethical committee approval.
Thanks
We want to express our deepest gratitude to the crew of the “Black Sea Research” vessel for their assistance and support in this project.
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