Age and Growth Studies in Indian Oil Sardine (Sardinella longiceps) using Hard Part Microstructure, a Tool for Biological and Ecological Understanding

Age and growth characteristics of the Indian oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) was studied by interpreting microstructures on hard parts. Microstructures were validated to time scales observing their frequency formation parts fishes reared in confinement. Among parts, sagittal otolith alone found suitable for ageing species as microstructure them followed definite scale. The estimates age at length data parameters from analysis indicated faster than earlier other methods. Despite an expected sexual divergence growth, results show identical both sexes. It further highlighted prevalence very distinct temporal variation driven habitat environment indicating significance part studies ecological understanding fishes. also aided tracing precise birth with high precision, identifying cohorts that supported fishery possible inter-regional migration species. generated would aid better eco-biological species, stock assessment outputs forecasting.