Study of age and growth of cephalopod using their beaks

Abstract:

Determination of age and growth is important in the fishery biology study. Length-frequency is not reliable for cephalopod age determination, while hard tissue is one of the most effective ways to study their age and growth. Beak as one of the few hard structures of cephalopods is increasingly popular for its high stable-morphology and erosion resistance as well as good information storage. In this study, we reviewed progress in the study of the age and growth of cephalopods based on beak length, increments, formation of the first increments and age validation and determination. The result shows that some problems still exist in age identifying, that is, studies only focused on Octopus vulgaris and O. maya, which should be solved in the near future although a certain progress has been made. Our study will provide an important technical support and theoretical basis for the research in cephalopod age and growth study.