Comparative Study of Ancient and Modern Otoliths of Ariidae (Sea Catfish) from Kuwait`s Waters

This is a proposal for a research project to study both modern and 7000-year-old chim otoliths. The latter were excavated from the Sabiya area in 2000, 2001 and 2002 by the Kuwaiti-British archaeological expedition from Kuwait’s National Museum. The fisheries biology of four species of chim inhabiting Kuwait’s waters using otolith annuli will be studied as well as that of chim otoliths retrieved from the archaeological excavation site in Sabiyah. Data from modern otolith will be compared with those of the excavated otoliths to determine seasonal fishing species, the size of fish caught and when the fishing seasons occurred. Measurements of otolith meristics and internal structures, estimation of age structure, timing of otolith annuli deposition and growth rates of four species of Ariidae catfish inhabiting Kuwait’s waters will be studied.