SUMMARY

Age estimates were made on otolith of 61 bonito, Sarda sarda, and 39 little tunny, Euthynnus alletteratus, captured by clupeoids purse seine in the Southern Italian seas. Increment counts, presumed to be daily, were made for age estimation. Estimated ages of bonito ranging in size from 10.5 to 39.8 cm fork lenght (FL), ranged from 18 and 110 days, as well as those of little tunny ranging in size from 7,5 to 25,2 cm fork lenght (FL), ranged from 18 to 69 days. Linear regressions indicated growth rates of 3.26 mm and 3.96 mm per day, within the size interval analysed, respectively for bonito and little tunny. RÉSUM