Multi-model inference for growth parameter estimation of the Bigeye Croaker Micropogonias megalops in the Upper Gulf of California

Bigeye Croaker (Micropogonias megalops) is caught in the Upper Gulf of California (UGC) by local community fishermen from San Felipe in Baja California, Golfo de Santa Clara and Puerto Peñasco in Sonora, Mexico. For the sustainable management of this fishery, it is necessary to understand its growth cycle. We modeled the individual growth of M. megalops from the UGC using 4 growth models: von Bertalanffy growth model (VBGM), Logistic, Gompertz and Schnute. The parameters of each model and their confidence intervals (CI) were computed using the maximum-likelihood method. The best-fit model was selected using Akaike´s information criterion (AIC).