Abstract--We verified the age and growth of swordfish (Xiphias gladius) by comparing ages determined from annuli in fin ray sections with daily growth increments in otoliths. Growth of swordfish of exploitable sizes is described on the basis of annuli present in cross sections of the second ray of the first anal fins of 1292 specimens (60-260 cm eye-to-fork length, EFL) caught in the region of the Hawaii-based pelagic longline fishery. The position of the initial fin ray annulus of swordfish was verified for the first time with the use of scanning electron micrographs of presumed daily growth increments present in the otoliths of juveniles. Fish growth through age 7 was ...

<0.001; Table 5A). Furthermore, for central North Pacific swordfish spanning the length range of most fish in the commercial catch (60-cm EFL as an average minimum), the standard three-parameter VBGF fit the length-at-age data more efficiently than Richards' generalized VBGF (likelihood-ratio test; males: P>

<8 and for all ages (ANCOVA: P=0.21 and 0.06, respectively). 
[H.sub.0] = null hypothesis. SE = standard error. 
 
Parameter 
 estimate 
A Main study   [+ or -] SEProb 
Hypothesis   data subset (test statistic) df><0.001)>

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