Dynamics of Linear Growth Rate in Herring, Clupea pallasii, from Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan

An analysis of the size and age composition of the Pacific herring Clupea pallasii from Peter the Great Bay in 1941, 1944, and 1947-2017 has shown the categories of large-, medium-, and small-sized fish that statistically significantly differ in linear size. Their proportions in year-classes are subject to long-term and interannual variations. The identified groups of fish are distinguished by life cycle duration, timing of sexual maturity, and abundance dynamics, but they do not have a complete reproductive isolation. In the long-term dynamics of proportions of the size categories, large- and medium-sized individuals with positive linear growth deviations dominate the considered year-classes during the periods of stock increase; groups of small- and medium-sized fish with negative deviations of growth indices prevail in the years of low abundance.