Abstract:Turbot Scophthalmus maximus, a benthic flatfish species, is a highly nutritious and valued species currently cultured widely in sea water in China. However,with development of its aquaculture, the growth has been slowed down due to serious germplasm degeneration in recent years and was heavily concerned by national related administrative departments. In this study,growth performance was compared in four different stocks of turbot from Britain, France, Denmark and Norway. The results showed that the difference of body length and body weight among these stocks are much significant (P＜0.01) for 3-month,6-month,9-month and 12-month turbot,and body length and body weight ranked in the same order for the four stocks based on the data collected in respective months. Body length of the four populations of turbot grew as linear functions,while their body weight as exponential functions. Through comparison of AGRW and IGRW at different growth stage,better growth performance was exhibited in France stocks than in the other three stocks,and the order was as follows: France > Britain >> Denmark > Norway. At 3, 6, 9 and 12-month,the variation coefficients of body weight of the four turbot stocks were 22.84%～33.48%,21.36%～30.30%,19.64%～26.97% and 21.06%～35.07% respectively,and all the four stocks were suitable for selection on the basis of the variation coefficients of body weight.
