Comparisons are made between estimates of ages and growth of the flathead from a temperate Western Australian estuary, using data obtained from whole and sectioned otoliths. Use of whole otoliths frequently underestimated age by one year in 2+ to 4+ fish and two years in 5+ to 10+ fish, and by as much as five or six years in the oldest fish (11+ and 12+). The respective 95% confidence limits for the parameters L∞, K, and To in the von Bertalanffy growth equations for males, calculated using data from sectioned otoliths, overlapped those calculated from data for whole otoliths, and the same was true for K with females. This similarity in growth curves in particularly the first four years of life can be attributed to the fact that c74 and 65% of the growth of males and females, respectively, occurred in the first three years, when under-estimates of age were limite
