Biology and Management of Dogfish Sharks

15. Differences in Growth in the Spiny Dogfish over a Latitudinal Gradient in the Northeast Pacific

Nicole M. Vega, Vincent F. Gallucci, Lorenz Hauser, and James Franks

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781934874073.ch16

Abstract.—Growth patterns of the spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias over the latitudinal gradient from Washington State/British Columbia to Baja California/northern Mexico are analyzed. The von Bertalanffy growth model and the versatile growth model of Schnute and Fournier (1980) are used to describe region-specific growth. Statistical comparisons are made using the versatile growth model to determine patterns of growth along the latitudinal gradient. We propose the existence of two open-water demographic subunits in the dogfish population of the Northeast Pacific, northern and southern, which appear to be distinct from the populations in north and south Puget Sound.