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At 14.30 02/03/2005, Mike wrote:

>I think the fact that some y-o-y can be sexually mature is exactly why you
>should not define juveniles as y-o-y.  There's too much variation in
>development
>among species to define juvenile meaningfully in that way.
>
>I prefer to apply the term juvenile to all fish that are meristically the same
>as adults but that have immature gonads and possibly lack adult coloration.
>Therefore, larval fish are not juveniles.  Larvae and juveniles, however, are
>both immature.  Furthermore, adult and mature are synonyms.


I believe that some of us are reluctant to consider large - yet immature -
animals as "juveniles" because of its Latin ethymology (=young, that I
associate to small-sized little-aged individuals). But it's all relative,
or so it seems...

Anyway it is astonishing how a single biological term, that one might
superficially consider well defined and well delimited, can be interpreted
in a variety of ways!

Carlo

*****************************************
Carlo Pipitone
CNR-IAMC
Laboratorio di Ecologia Marina
via Giovanni da Verrazzano 17
91014 Castellammare del Golfo (TP)
Italy
---------
Tel: +39 0924 35013
Fax:+39 0924 35084
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web site: http://www.irma.pa.cnr.it
*****************************************

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