Comparison between Gompertz and von Bertalanffy Curves for Expressing Growth in Weight of Fishes

Abstract

The two types of curves were fitted to empirical weights-at-age for four commercially important species: sardines, haddock, lake trout, and chum salmon. For the range of observed data, both curves fit the empirical points well, and seem almost indistinguishable on this basis. The upper asymptotic limit of weight, however, was higher for the von Bertalanffy than for the Gompertz, in all four examples. Fitting complexity is similar for both types of curves, but the Gompertz does not require the assumption of cubic length–weight relation implicit in the Beverton–Holt treatment of the von Bertalanffy.