An Essential Estimation for Effective Fishery Management of the California Market Squid Doryteuthis opalescens (Berry, 1911)

ABSTRACT Fishery sustainability and profits are achieved through adequate fishery management, for which parameters should be assessed using assertive approaches. Thus, we analyzed dorsal mantle length and age data of the California market squid ( Doryteuthis opalescens ) by the multi‐model inference approach to describe its growth pattern based on model performance. Two asymptotic and four non‐asymptotic growth models were candidates for our data set. In contrast with the growth pattern previously assumed for Doryteuthis opalescens (non‐asymptotic), our results show clear evidence that the species follows an asymptotic growth pattern. The best candidate growth model was Gompertz with L ∞ = 233.71 mm DML (CI 232.26–235.24 mm DML, p < 0.05), t0 = 152.69 (CI 148.87–156.12, p < 0.05), and k = 0.0125 (CI 0.0113–0.0143, p < 0.05). With this essential estimation, the type of growth of the California market squid was defined, and size‐at‐age data of this species is now available for fishery management.