Gilthead seabream - Growth

Growth characteristics
In the wild, females are known to attain more than 70 cm in length and males a maximum of around 55 cm with maximum body weight of around 4 to 5 kg (Campillo, 1992). Age-related length-weight relation in gilthead seabream is presented in Figure 4.

Larvae grow from 3 mm to 9 mm in length in about 30 days (Figure 5). The feeds distributed at weaning are extremely small particles, corresponding to the mouth opening: 50–250 μm for larvae of 8–10 mm, 180– 400 μm for larvae of 20 mm and 315–600 μm for juveniles of 25 mm.

It takes between a year and a half and two years, depending on temperature and rearing conditions, to produce commercial-size fish of 300 to 500 g. Seasonal variations in water temperature and photoperiod can modify the growth of gilthead seabream. A set of growth curves is presented in Figures 6 and 7.