Markedly Similar Growth And Longevity Of Green Jobfish Aprion Virescens Over An Expansive Geographic Range Between The Hawaiian Archipelago And The Eastern Indian Ocean

The Green Jobfish Aprion virescens supports important commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries throughout its Indo-Pacific range. Concerns with previous estimates of age and growth from fish in Hawaii, along with evidence of variability in these parameters from locations outside the Pacific Ocean, limits their reliability as input parameters for assessments of this species, particularly in Hawaii. Previously validated aging criterion were applied to fish collected from within the Hawaiian Archipelago (main Hawaiian Islands and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands) and the eastern Indian Ocean to provide length-at-age, growth, and longevity information for stock assessment and management purposes as well as to further examine spatial variability across its range. The Bayesian information criterion was used as a measure of goodness of fit for von Bertalanffy models with different covariates to explore the influence of sex and location on growth. No divergence in growth trajectories was identified between sexes, and growth parameter estimates were not different within the Hawaiian Archipelago or between Hawaii and the eastern Indian Ocean. Empirical natural mortality estimates revealed that mortality was also very similar between sexes and among locations due to the similarity in maximum ages and growth parameter estimates. Considering there was dissimilarity in age and growth parameters between the current study and those published for this species from the Coral Sea and the western and central Indian Ocean, further investigation of potential clines in relation to latitude, and subsequently water temperature, need to be determined.