AN ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE GROWTH AND HATCHING DATES OF JUVENILE SARDINE, SARDINA-PILCHARDUS, IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN-SEA

Juvenile sardine, Sardina pilchardus Walbaum, 1792, were collected off Mallorca, Balearic Islands, during April July 1989, and were aged by means of daily otolith increments. Growth rates were in the range of values reported for other clupeoids, although lower than those for larvae of the Mediterranean anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus. Hatching dates were back-calculated from the age in days and the date of capture. The data indicated that hatching was continuous, but revealed a low peak in the last half of November 1988 and a second, higher peak in the first half of March of the following year, in accordance with the general cycle of secondary production in this oligotrophic area.