A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON POPULATION OF GOLDEN SARDINE SARDINELLA AURITA FROM FUJIAN AND ZHEJIANG OFFSHORE WATERS

The meristic and morphometric character of Sardinella aurita iscompared between the stocks of Minnan-Taiwan Bank and Zhejiang offshorewaters, combining comprehensive analysis in biology character, spawning ground,migration and marine environment. The results indicated that the stocks of goldensardine in Fujian and Zhejiang offshore waters belong to Minnan-Taiwan Bankpopulation and East China Sea population respectively. The coefficient of variabi-lity (C. V.) of the former is greater than that of the latter. The distribution of twopopulations is discussed as well.