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Age, growth and reproduction of the common stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca from the North Aegean Sea

Abstract Age, growth and reproductive parameters of the common stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca, in the North Aegean Sea are reported. Age was estimated by counting the growth rings of thin sections of vertebral centra from 83 fish (83–114 cm total length, TL). The relationship between TL and the vertebral centrum ratio (CR) was curvilinear, therefore a quadratic model was preferred to describe between the vertebral centrum growth and body growth. The oldest common stingray were 16 years (females) and 10 years (males), which corresponded to total lengths of 114 and 83 cm, respectively. Estimates of von Bertalanffy growth parameters suggest that males attain a slightly larger asymptotic total length (L∞=188.49 cm) than females (L∞=119.96 cm) and grow more slowly (K = 0.065 year−1 and 0.086 year−1, respectively). The size at which 50% (TL50) of males and females were sexually mature at 62.5 cm TL.