Population Parameters and Stock Assessment of Trachinocephalus trachinus from the Southern Red Sea Coasts, Egypt | ||||
Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries | ||||
Article 2, Volume 29, Issue 4, July and August 2025, Page 19-32 PDF (404.16 K) | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/ejabf.2025.437462 | ||||
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Author | ||||
Sahar Mehanna | ||||
Abstract | ||||
Lizardfish are the most abundant demersal fish inhabiting the Egyptian coasts of the Red Sea. They instituted about 36.4% of the total trawl catch in the Egyptian Red Sea and 33.9% of the total trawl catch in the Foul Bay. A total of 1048 Trachinocephalus trachinus were sorted from the lizardfish collected from the Foul Bay. Stock assessment was done for the pseudocohort of the species using random samples collected between 2023 and 2025. Otoliths were used for age determination, and the maximum life span was two years for males and four years for females. The precision was measured by two age estimations from two replicate counts and indicated a good agreement between them (PA = 91.7%, CV = 2.5% and IAPE = 3.9%). The von Bertalanffy growth parameters were TL∞ = 24.98 cm, W∞ = 155.7 g, K = 0.67 year-1, t0 = -0.40 year for males and TL∞ = 34.84 cm, K = 0.50 year-1, t0 = -0.08 year, W∞ = 443.4 g for females. The instantaneous annual rates of total and fishing mortality and subsequently the exploitation rates were estimated, and the yield per recruit was analyzed. Stock assessment revealed an over exploitation situation for lizardfish fisheries in the Foul Bay. The total mortality coefficient Z and the fishing mortality F were high as indicated by the exploitation ratio E (> 0.5), and a large number of by-caught juvenile and young fishes showing that the stock of lizardfishes in this area was overexploited and the fishing gear was irrational. | ||||
Keywords | ||||
Red Sea; Foul Bay; Synodontidae; Trachinocephalus trachinus; Population dynamics; Fisheries management | ||||
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