A general model fitting coleoid cephalopod growth as a function of time and temperature to a single curve

Abstract

A novel general model has been developed to fit biomass growth data of coleoid cephalopods as a function of time and temperature from hatching to maximum size in a single curve. This model has been obtained formally from a formulation of product-integral, solves the discontinuity problem present in two-phase growth models and describes both asymptotic and non-asymptotic growth. Within the usual temperature range in which the organism develops, our model describes a non-asymptotic growth achieving a good fit with the experimental data $\left(R^2>0.98\right)$. In particular, the model provides precise calculation of the time k at which the growth curve inflection occurs, time μ₁ at which sexual maturity begins and time μ₂ at which the maximum size is reached. When the model was parameterized as a function of temperature, it corroborated different results on Octopus maya fitness, in particular, 25.7°C was obtained as the temperature that generates the highest average growth rate and 21.7°C as the temperature with the highest biomass accumulation over time. This result confirms that the temperature range of 22–26°C is suitable for the growth of O. maya and shows that the developed model can be a useful tool for aquaculture.