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Age and growth of Pacific blue marlin off the southern point of the Baja California peninsula using growth rings on transverse sections of the fourth spine of the dorsal fin from 174 fish with postorbital length between 141 and 330 cm (65% of the total specimens were between 170 and 240 cm), all of them females. The analyzed fish were captured between January 2005 and December 2006. Growth was described by fitting length-at-age data to a set of four candidate models: von Bertalanffy growth model (VBGM), generalized VBGM, Gompertz growth model and logistic model. Models parameters and confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using maximum likelihood estimation and the best model was selected using Akaike’s information criterion (AIC). The age structure of Pacific blue marlin was composed of 7 age groups (1 to 6 and 8), with individuals in age groups 2 and 3 being the most abundant (74% of the total specimens). According to AIC, the VBGM is the best model for describing growth for Pacific blue marlin. VBGM parameters (k=0.3761, L8=300.45 and t₀=-0.1621) suggest that the growth of female blue marlins is highly accelerated during the first 2 years of life, reaching approximately 55% (170 cm) and 70% (210 cm) of its maximum average length (postorbital, in cm) at the ages of 2 and 3 years, respectively.

Palabras clave: Pacific Ocean; Blue marlin; age and growth

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