The Alfonsino, Beryx splendens Lowe, 1834, is a demersal fish species that inhabits the continental slope (200-600 m depth) in the eastern Atlantic (Quero, 1984) and seamounts around the islands of Madeira, the Canaries and the Azores (Maul, 1986). This species can also be found in the western Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans (Bushakin, 1982 in Kotlyar, 1987). It is a bycatch of the Pagellus bogaraveo artisanal fishery in the Azores. The landings increased from 3 metric tons in 1980 ( 67%) (Lotaçor, 1980-1995). Available information on age and growth of Alfonsino from the Atlantic has come from fisheries sources and consists mainly of length-frequency, catch curves, age frequencies and length-at-age curves (Leon & Malkov, 1979; Kotlyar, 1987; ICES, unpublished report; Assessment Committee, 1995-1996; Gauldie, 1995). The objectives of this study were to determine the age from sagittae otoliths and to conduct a preliminarily growth study of the Alfonsino from the Azores.