New data on the longevity of coastal cod Gadus morhua Linnaeus, 1758 in the White Sea

• Published in: Journal of Applied Ichthyology
• Main Authors: Yershov, P, Marschal, C, Ereskovsky, Alexander, Vishnyakov, A.
• Other Authors: Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS), Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Avignon Université (AU)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UMR237-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), St Petersburg State University (SPbU)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology; Arctic; Chupa; Greenland; Kandalaksha; Newfoundland; White Sea; Gadus morhua; Iceland
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01463728; https://doi.org/10.1111/jai.12961

International audience The cod, Gadus morhua, is a common and abundant demer-sal fish in the White Sea coastal zone. The published data on the maximum age of White Sea cod still requires additional documentation, because some authors have noted difficulties in age determination by otoliths of large specimens. To obtain accurate data on the longevity of this species in the White Sea, an image analysis of thin-sections of otoliths was made for age estimation. Research surveys in the Chupa Inlet and adjacent waters of the Kandalaksha Bay were con-ducted in June to August from 2007 to 2013. The five largest specimens of a total of 3564 captured fish were selected for age determination. Age of these largest individuals ranged between 7 and 12 years, total length and weight varied from 60.2 to 77.0 cm and from 2.4 to 6.1 kg, respectively. Accord-ing to the data, maximal White Sea cod longevity is greater than in previously published data, and demonstrates similar longevity to conspecifics from the Baltic and North seas, whereas its life cycle is much shorter than cod from the Northeast Arctic, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador stocks.