Plot of parameter against length and age of <i>M. merluccius</i>.

<p>(A and B) Individuals from Port de La Selva (Mediterranean population) and (C and D) individuals from Galícia (Northeastern Atlantic population). Blue and red arrows represent the variation pattern of the for males and females, respectively. Vertical red and blue lines indicate the length and age of first maturity for females and males, respectively, estimated earlier by different authors.</p

Plot of parameter against length and age of <i>M. curema</i>.

<p>(A) Length and (B) age variation of individuals from the north region of Pernambuco (Brazil). Green lines represent the linear fit to the two subsets of the data (1-left and 2-rigth to the maximal ), with respective parameters of the fit ( - intercept and - slope) and 95% confidence bands (dashed lines). The black arrow indicates the interception between the two lines. (C) Schematic representation of the roughness variation of the sagittal otolith contour of <i>M. curema</i> as a function of age.</p

Periodic series of otolith contour fluctuations.

<p>(A) Schematic representation of the superposition of the standard circular shape on an otolith of <i>M. merlucius</i>. The otolith radius was used to define the periodic series of the otolith contour fluctuations, derived from the normalized radius of the contour at the angle for (B) <i>M. curema</i> and (C) <i>M. merlucius</i>, obtained from the image catalog of the project AFORO.</p

Multifractal plots derived from the MF-DFA of otolith periodic series.

<p>(A) The linear regression between and . (B) The th moment versus the generalized exponent determined as the slope of (A). (C) The singularity spectra derived from the fluctuation contour of two <i>M. merluccius</i> (blue) and two <i>M. curema</i> (green) otoliths. (D) Schematic representation of the multifractal parameters extracted from the singularity spectrum.</p