Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2014
The veined rapa whelk is one of the most important invasive species in theBlack Sea ecosystem since the 1940s. Following its introduction to the BlackSea, it destroyed most of the bivalve populations, mainly the Mediterraneanmussel and oysters. However, the veined rapa whelk has commercial importancefor the Black Sea fisheries as an alternative product. In this study, weaimed to determine some population parameters of the veined rapa whelk basedon indirect ageing through length–frequency data by using the Bhattacharyamethod. We collected 1704 specimens by dredging along the coasts of SamsunProvince in the Central Black Sea in 2011 from June to November. The age ofthe population varied from 0 to 6. Von Bertalanffy growth parameters wereestimated as L ∞ = 112.35 mm, k = 0.310, t 0 = −0.486 and W ∞ = 243.94 g. Mean length and weight, length–weight relationship,mortality and exploitation rates were derived asL = 56.80 ± 0.36 mm, W = 45.67 ± 0.89 g, W = 0.0006 L2.719, Z = 0.96, M = 0.57, F = 0.39 and E = 0.40, respectively.