Size at maturity of triglid fishes in the Adriatic Sea, northeastern Mediterranean

Aspitrigla cuculus (red gurnard), Chelidonichthys lucerna (tub gurnard) and Eutrigla gurnardus (grey gurnard) (Scorpaeniformes, Triglidae) occur in the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic. These gurnard species were included in the list of target species from the Coordination of the International bottom trawl survey in the Mediterranean Sea (MEDIT project) (Relini et al., 2008). This project, under grant since 1994 by the European Union, is carried out in the Mediterranean Sea to monitor the abundance and distribution of Mediterranean commercial demersal resources. Despite abundance and importance as economic resource of these triglids, there is a lack of knowledge of their basic biology and their stock composition and population dynamics (Olim and Borges, 2006; Marriott et al., 2010), particularly in the Italian Seas (Colloca et al., 2003; Vallisneri et al., 2010). Knowledge of the reproductive features of fish stocks, such as size at maturity, is important for the estimation of the spawning biomass in stock assessment models. Thus the objectives of this study was to estimate the size at first maturity, which is one of the key parameter related to the reproductive strategy of red gurnard, tub gurnard and grey gurnard in the coastal waters of the Adriatic Sea.