Age composition and growth parameters of areolate grouper, Epinephelus areolatus and six-bar grouper, E. sexfasciatus (Teleostei: Serranidae) in the Terengganu waters, Malaysia

The age and growth of areolate grouper, Epinephelus areolatus and six-bar grouper, E. sexfasciatus in the Terengganu waters, Malaysia, were estimated by analysis of sectioned sagittal otoliths. A total of 795 grouper samples were collected monthly for 12 months from February 2014 to January 2015 in two main fishing landing ports of the Terengganu. The recorded results showed that the ages ranged were from 1–9 and 2–9 years, for E. areolatus and E. sexfasciatus, respectively, for. The length-at-age data fitted to the von Bertalanffy growth model revealed that the growth function was TLt = 86.66 [1-e -0.06(t+2.32)] for E. areolatus and TLt = 33.86 [1-e -0.44(t+0.35)] for E. sexfasciatus. The high proportion of immature fish in the catch and the lack of adults near maximum size indicate that the population of E. areolatus in particular is in danger of being overfished and management measures should be urgently implemented to reduce the catch of immature fish and to preserve an adequate breeding stock of larger adults of these and other groupers of commercial importance.