Reproductive biology of the European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792)) in the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea, Türkiye

Yusuf Şen; Mukadder Arslan İhsanoğlu; İsmail Burak Daban

doi:10.26881/oahs-2026.1.08

.blurhash-client-img { display: none !important; }

Reproductive biology of the European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792)) in the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea, Türkiye

Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies

Volume 55 (2026): Issue 1 (March 2026)

By: Yusuf Şen, Mukadder Arslan İhsanoğlu and İsmail Burak Daban

Open Access

|Mar 2026

Figures & Tables

Sampling points in the southwest of Marmara Sea and the north of Aegean Sea.

Monthly sexual maturity stages of European pilchard in the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea.

Monthly trends in Kn, GSI with Cl of European pilchard in the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea. Cl, confidence intervals; GSI, gonadosomatic index; Kn, condition factor.

The Kn and GSI differences of European pilchard in the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea_

	Area	Sex	Min	Max	Mean ± se	p
Kn	Marmara Sea	♀	0.758 (October)	1.106 (January)	0.961 ± 0.024	F:1.866t:0.648p > 0.05
		♂	0.760 (October)	1.176 (January)	0.959 ± 0.027
		C	0.762 (October)	1.140 (January)	0.959 ± 0.025
	Aegean Sea	♀	0.634 (December)	0.965 (May)	0.855 ± 0.032	F:0.038t:0.068p > 0.05
		♂	0.692 (December)	0.975 (May)	0.882 ± 0.024
		C	0.693 (December)	0.980 (May)	0.890 ± 0.025
GSI	Marmara Sea	♀	0.145 (August)	4.963 (February)	1.929 ± 0.567	F:3.184t:0.638p > 0.05
		♂	0.147 (July)	3.779 (February)	1.423 ± 0.411
		C	0.153 (August)	4.659 (February)	1.747 ± 0.510
	Aegean Sea	♀	0.100 (July)	4.0110 (March)	1.568 ± 0.413	F:5.02t:0.807p > 0.05
		♂	0.097 (July)	2.479 (January)	1.146 ± 0.282
		C	0.099 (July)	2.956 (April)	1.360 ± 0.340

The TL and W of European pilchard sampled by purse seine and gillnet in the Aegean Sea and the Marmara Sea_

Areas	Sampling method	Sampling time	N	TL_{mean ± se (min-max)}	p	W_{mean ± se (min-max)}	p
Aegean Sea	Purse seine	September–April	482	12.98 ± 0.05 (11.0–17.1)	F:80.243t:5.268p:0.000	15.4 ± 0.21 (8.89–37.18)	F:51.607t:3.445p:0.001
Aegean Sea	Gillnet	April–August	180	12.5 ± 0.04 (10.6–14.5)	F:80.243t:5.268p:0.000	14.14 ± 0.19 (7.52–20.87)	F:51.607t:3.445p:0.001
Marmara Sea	Purse seine	September–April	482	12.42 ± 0.05 (10.0–15.6)	F:26.004t:0.159p:0.874	13.46 ± 0.18 (5.98–26.79)	F:28.433t:1.002p:0.308
Marmara Sea	Gillnet	April–August	180	12.49 ± 0.05 (10.7–15.1)	F:26.004t:0.159p:0.874	13.55 ± 0.17 (9.62–21.58)	F:28.433t:1.002p:0.308

The comparison of total LWR parameters of European pilchard with previous studies in the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea_

Areas	Sex	N	TL_{mean ± se (min-max)}	W_{mean ± se (min-max)}	a	b	R²	Se(b)	%95 Cl b	Growth type	Reference
Marmara Sea	♀	−	13.3-13.76	14.1-39.76	0.0058	3.259	−	−	−	−	Kocakaplan (1998)
	♂	−	11.0–13.48	11.38–31.9	0.0078	3.12	−	−	−	−
	C	603	11.0–13.76	11.4–39.76	0.0102	3.016	−	−	−	−
Küçükçekmece Lagoon, Marmara Sea	C	11	9–15.3	−	0.0021	3.54	0.98	0.009	−	−	Tarkan et al. (2006)
Izmir BayAegean Sea	C*	388	11.82 ± 1.029.2–14.0	20.74 ± 5.7410.0–34.0	0.0076	3.19	0.89	0.059	−	−	Özaydın and Taskavak (2006)
Edremit Bay, Aegean Sea	♀*	283	−	−	0.0004	2.731	0.80	−	−	−	Gıcılı (2007)
	♂*	218	−	−	0.0003	2.792	0.83	−	−	−
	C*	501	8.7–14	−	0.0006	2.653	0.79	−	−	−
Edremit Bay, Aegean Sea	♀*	285	8.7–14.3	7.02–32.66	0.0435	2.455	0.64	−	−	A−	Erdoğan et al. (2010)
Edremit Bay, Aegean Sea	♂*	218			0.0274	2.642	0.63
Greece, Aegean Sea	♀	2849	13.9 ±5.3710.3–17.3	−	0.0041	3.217	0.86	−	−	A+	Tsikliras and Koutrakis (2013)
Greece, Aegean Sea	♂	1993	13.4 ± 5.029.1–16.2	−	0.0087	2.914	0.89	−	−	A−	Tsikliras and Koutrakis (2013)
Izmir Bay, Aegean Sea	C	77	9.39 ± 1.846.0–12.5	7.84 ± 4.071.68–15.9	0.0070	3.053	0.99	0.004	−	A+	Acarli et al. (2014)
Güllük Bay, Aegean Sea	C	360	12.7 ± 2.56.7–17.7	17.44 ± 9.252.29–42.67	−	−	−	−	−	−	Bilge (2018)
Aegean Sea	C*	170	12.3 10.5–15	12.7 8.06–23.7	0.0071	2.97	0.92	−	−	−	Taylan et al. (2019)
Izmir Bay, Aegean Sea	c	567	12.1 9.5–15.3	13.0 5.2–20.8	0.0059	2.793	0.94	0.006	−	A−	Şenbahar et al. (2020)
Kusadasi Bay, Aegean Sea	c	162	−	−	0.0105	2.876	0.86	−	−	A−	Keskin and Gürkan (2023)
Izmir Bay, Aegean Sea	c	140	−	−	0.0147	2.737	0.93	−	−	A−	Keskin and Gürkan (2023)
Edremit Bay, Aegean Sea	♀	142	13.49 ± 1.1611.0–16.2	20.29 ± 5.78.54–38.2	0.009	2.95	0.76	0.14	2.67–3.22	A−	Erdoğan et al. (2025)
	♂	36	12.71 ±0.9911.4–15.2	16.13 ±4.479.76–28.22	0.006	3.12	0.83	0.27	2.59–3.67	I
	C	178	13.33 ± 1.1711.0–16.2	16.13 ±4.479.76–28.22	0.007	3.04	0.78	0.12	2.80–3.31	A−
Aegean Sea	♀	194	13.1 ±0.0810.6–17.1	16.3 ±0.347.57–37.18	0.0092	2.887	0.81	0.055	2.779–2.994	I	This study
	♂	253	12.93 ±0.0710.9–16.3	15.24 ±0.287.52–29.29	0.0093	2.892	0.85	0.087	2.721–3.063	A−
	C	662	12.85 ±0.0410.6–17.1	15.06 ±0.167.52–37.8	0.0089	2.897	0.82	0.087	2.725–3.068	A−
Marmara Sea	♀	243	12.48 ±0.0610.2–15.5	13.79 ±0.218.12–26.22	0.0091	2.885	0.82	0.089	2.627–2.978	A−
	♂	217	12.48 ±0.0710.5–15.6	13.77 ±0.235.98–25.59	0.0092	2.883	0.82	0.101	2.558–2.955	A−
	C	656	12.44 ±0.0410.0–15.6	13.48 ±0.135.98–26.79	0.0094	2.872	0.82	0.055	2.734–2.950	A−

The spawning period and first maturity length of European pilchard with previous studies_

Area	Spawning period	Spawning period peak	First maturity size (cm)	Sampling method	References
Edremit Bay, Aegean Sea	September–May	December, January, February	11.3 (♀)12.0 (♂)	Purse seine	Cihangir (1991)
Izmir Bay, Aegean Sea			12.2 (♀)12.4 (♂)
Büyük Menderes Delta, Aegean Sea			12.2 (♀)12.2 (♂)
Marmara Sea	November–May	−	−	Purse seine	Kocakaplan (1998)
Edremit Bay, Aegean Sea	October–March	−	−	Plankton	Türker (1998)
Edremit Bay, Aegean Sea	October–May	December, January, February	12.0* C	Commercial fishermen	Gıcılı (2007)
Adriatic Sea, Croatia	−	−	7.9 C	Beach seine	Sinovčić et al. (2008)
Edremit Bay, Aegean Sea	September–May	February	−	Purse seine	Erdoğan et al. (2010)
Adriatic Sea, Croatia	October–May	−	−	Purse seine	Mustač and Sinovčić (2010)
Mediterranean Sea, Morocco	January–April	−	13.29 C	Vessel	Keznine et al. (2020)
Mediterranean Sea	October–April	−	11.37 (♀)11.65 (♂)	Purse seine	Tsikliras and Koutrakis (2013)
Mediterranean Sea	September–March	−	10.8 (♀)10.2 (♂)	Purse seine, trawl	Basilone et al. (2023)
Kuşadası Bay, Aegean Sea	Winter	−	−	Commercial fishermen	Keskin and Gürkan (2023)
Izmir Bay, Aegean Sea	Winter	−	−	Commercial fishermen	Keskin and Gürkan (2023)
Saros Bay, Aegean Sea	September–May	February	−	Commercial fishermen	Cengiz et al. (2024)
Aegean Sea	November–April	February	13.62 (♀)12.95 (♂)	Purse seine, gillnet	This study
Marmara Sea	November–April	February	12.76 (♀)11.96 (♂)	Purse seine, gillnet	This study

References

Authors

Metrics

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26881/oahs-2026.1.08 | Journal eISSN: 1897-3191 | Journal ISSN: 1730-413X

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 91 - 102

Submitted on: Nov 20, 2025

Accepted on: Mar 4, 2026

Published on: Mar 31, 2026

Published by: University of Gdańsk

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

Gillnet,

purse seine,

gonadosomatic index,

length at first maturity,

Related subjects:

© 2026 Yusuf Şen, Mukadder Arslan İhsanoğlu, İsmail Burak Daban, published by University of Gdańsk
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 55 (2026): Issue 1 (March 2026)

Reproductive biology of the European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792)) in the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea, Türkiye

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

The Kn and GSI differences of European pilchard in the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea_

The TL and W of European pilchard sampled by purse seine and gillnet in the Aegean Sea and the Marmara Sea_

The comparison of total LWR parameters of European pilchard with previous studies in the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea_

The spawning period and first maturity length of European pilchard with previous studies_

Paradigm

My account