Age and growth of the Indian squid Uroteuthis duvaucelii based on statolith microstructure analysis from the tropical Arabian Sea

The Indian squid Uroteuthis duvaucelii is distributed widely in the continental shelf waters of the Indo-West Pacific Seas and also contributes a major share of the annual squid landing from the Indian waters. Age and growth rate information is one of the most important set of variables for estimating population dynamics of the species. Earlier works on the age and growth of squids along the Indian subcontinent were mainly based on length-frequency analysis. Recent studies have proven that length-frequency analysis overestimate the life span and underestimate the growth rate of squids. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the age and growth of the Indian squid in the Arabian Sea based on analysis of the statolith growth increment, which has already been applied to growth studies in many squid species. A total of 432 (male: 235; female: 197) individuals of the Indian squid were sampled from the commercial trawlers operating along the southwest coast of India