Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences Vol. 40 (4), August 2011, pp 567-571

Length-weight relationship, condition factor and morphometry of gold spot Liza parsia (Hamilton, 1822) from Cochin estuary

Renjini P.K. & Bijoy Nandan S. Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry Cochin University of Science and Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Cochin 682016, Kerala, India E.mail: [email protected]

Received 22 December 2009; revised 6 December 2010

Length-weight relationship was studied in Liza parsia collected from the Champakkara region of Cochin estuary during the year 2009. Slope value (b) estimated for Liza parsia male was found to be 3.1545, for female 3.0094 and for combined was 3.1938. The regression equation calculated for male was Log W = -2.2147 + 3.1545 Log L, for female was Log W = -2.0315 + 3.0094 Log L and for combined was Log W = -2.2596 + 3.1938 Log L. Length weight relationship and condition factor showed that the growth of L. parsia is quite satisfactory. Morphometric measurements of various body parts and meristic counts were recorded. There is no change in meristic counts in increase in body length. Thus from the study it could be inferred that, Liza parsia showed a satisfactory growth in the Cochin estuary.

[Keywords: Liza parsia , length-weight relationship, condition factor, morphometry–regression analysis]

Introduction (grey mullets) were considered important. Many Length–weight relationship studies of any fish species of mullets raised in ponds were found quite species is a pre requisite for the study of its often associated with other species. Liza parsia is an population by LeCren 1. Ponderal index or condition important species for aquaculture. A survey on the factor or the ‘fatness’ (K) was worked out to assess literature of Liza parsia showed very little the well-being of the population with the assumption information particularly in the Indian context, a that the growth of fish in ideal conditions maintain precise knowledge on its biology is important. Hence an equilibrium in length and weight by Hile 2. Data the length-weight relationship, condition factor and on length-weight relationship and the associated morphometry of Liza parsia from a coastal estuarine condition factor also enables to compare the system in Kerala is presented in this study. population of the same species from different environments. Study of morphometric characters Materials and Methods in fishes is important because they can be used Fresh fish samples were collected weekly during for the differentiation of taxonomic units. Present April 2009 to August 2009 from the fishermen study provides comprehensive information on the of Champakkara region (Latitude 9º 57’27” N and length weight relationship, relative condition factor Longitude 76º19’45” E) of the Cochin estuarine and morphometry of Liza parsia (Hamilton, 1822) system. A total of 255 specimens of L. parsia ranging from Champakkara backwaters, Kerala. in size from 12 cm to 30 cm were used for Mullets form one of the important fisheries in the length-weight analysis, various morphometric the coastal waters of India by Payne 3. The gold spot measurements and meristic counts were collected. mullet Liza parsia (Hamilton, 1822) is one of the The relationship between various parameters was common mullet in Cochin estuary and constitutes a determined by the multiple regression analysis using thriving fishery in the estuaries and brackish water the SPSS 16.0. After draining of the excess water lakes of Kerala by Kurup and Samuel 4. The major using a filter paper, the length of fish was measured contributions on Liza parsia (Hamilton, 1822) are that to the nearest mm using a mm scale and weight up to of Sarojini 5,6, Luther 7, Kurup and Samuel 8, Babu and 0.1 g using a weighing balance. Fishes were divided Neelakantan 9, Baburaj 10 and Wijayaratne and Costa 11 . into different sexes by observing the gonads after Studies on fish belonging to the family Mugilidae dissecting the abdomen. Length-weight relation of 568 INDIAN J. MAR. SCI., VOL. 40, NO. 4, AUGUST 2011

Table 1—Data on length and weight of Liza parsia from Cochin Estuary Length No. of fishes Mean length Mean weight No. of Mean length Mean weight No. of Mean length Mean weight group combined cm gm male cm gm female cm gm 12-14 4 13.3 20 3 13.2 20 1 13.6 20 14-16 43 15.1186 32.28 32 15.144 32.5 11 15.05 31.64 16-18 71 16.82 44.62 50 16.84 45.2 21 16.78 43.24 18-20 70 18.9 61.54 40 18.87 59.95 30 18.94 63.67 20-22 77 20.56 84.6 37 20.58 84 40 20.55 85.15 22-24 19 22.53 108.6 15 22.69 110.133 4 22.975 103 24-26 6 24.4 136.2 2 24.5 132 4 24.35 138.25 26-28 2 27.2 178 0 0 0 2 27.2 178 28-30 1 28.8 200 0 0 0 1 28.8 200 Table 2—K values of Liza parsia for different length groups Length group K value Male Female Combined 12-14 0.8681 0.7951 0.8498 14-16 0.9364 0.9409 0.9374 16-18 0.9364 0.9082 0.9488 19-20 0.8934 0.9288 0.9094 20-22 1.0827 0.9802 1.0045 22-24 0.8746 0.846 0.8686 24-26 0.8935 0.9571 0.9358 26-28 0.8828 0.8828 28-30 0.8372 0.8372 the fishes was calculated from the logarithmic Fig 1—Length weight relationship of Liza parsia (Combined) formula: Log W = Log a + b Log L. Thirty six morphometric and five meristic characters were studied following the standard procedures described by Apparao 12 , and Dwivedi and Menezes 13 . While doing the analysis, the total length was chosen as the base parameter with which the other parameters were related. Results Length-weight relationship Length–weight equations were calculated separately for males, females and sexes combined. The fish samples were divided into 2 cm length groups (Table 1). When empirical values of lengths Fig: 2—Length weight relationship of Liza parsia (Male) were plotted against their respective weight on an arithmetic scale, smooth curves were obtained (Figs. 1, 2 & 3). The length-weight relationship for Liza parsia was calculated as (Table 2)

Combined W = 0.0055 L 3.1938 Log W = -2.2596 + 3.1938 log l r2 = 0.9714 Male W = 0.0061 L 3.1545 Log W = -2.2147 + 3.1545 log l r2 = 0.9562 3.0094 Female W = 0.0093 L Log W = -2.0315 + 3.0094 log l r2 = 0.9627 Fig: 3—Length weight relationship of Liza parsia (Female) RENJINI & BIJOY: LENGTH-WEIGHT RELATIONSHIP, CONDITION FACTOR AND MORPHOMETRY OF GOLD 569

As may be seen from the equations, the exponential TL for males and females of 255 fishes are given in values for males, females and combined were Table 3. As may be seen from the tables, fork length, practically identical. The coefficient of correlation, standard length, pre-anal length, pre-pelvic length, 2 ‘r ’ for combined, males and females for the pre-pectoral length, pre-dorsal length, dorsal fin regression of total length and body weight were height, body depth, body width, pelvic fin base, pelvic estimated as 0.9714, 0.9562 and 0.9627 respectively fin length, anal length, girth length, anal fin length, which is significant at 5% level. depth at pectoral, depth at dorsal, depth at anus, least Condition factor height of caudal peduncle, head length, eye diameter, In the present study, the condition factor of pre-orbital length, post-orbital length, inter-orbital Liza parsia male varied between 0.8621 and 1.0827, width, upper jaw length, lower jaw length, depth of 0.7951 and 0.9802 in female and 0.8372 and 1.0045 mouth, depth at eye and gape width were highly in combined sexes. correlated with TL. For the meristic characters, dorsal Morphometric and meristic characters fin rays, dorsal spines, pectoral fin rays, anal fin Morphometric measurements of various parts of spines, anal fin rays, ventral spines and ventral rays the body and their percentage ratio in relation to were counted (Table 4).

Table 3—Results of statistical analysis of morphometric characters No Characters Male Female R R2 R R2 1 Fork length .993 .987 .997 .993 2 Standard length .992 .985 .993 .986 3 Pre-anal length .963 .927 .803 .645 4 Pre-pelvic length .957 .915 .965 .932 5 Pre-pectoral length .942 .887 .826 .683 6 Pre-dorsal length .965 .931 .959 .920 7 Dorsal fin base .690 .476 .637 .406 8 Dorsal fin height .834 .696 .884 .781 9 Body depth .908 .825 .890 .792 10 Body width .884 .781 .861 .741 11 Caudal fin height .770 .593 .648 .420 12 Anal fin base .672 .452 .658 .433 13 Pelvic fin base .792 .628 .795 .631 14 Pelvic fin length .913 .833 .930 .865 15 Pectoral fin length .830 .689 .654 .427 16 Anal length .843 .710 .892 .796 17 Girth length .910 .829 .902 .814 18 Anal fin length .781 .611 .784 .614 19 Depth at pectoral .909 .825 .859 .738 20 Depth at dorsal .840 .706 .881 .775 21 Pectoral fin base .764 .583 .739 .547 22 Height of second dorsal .811 .658 .606 .367 23 Depth at anus .870 .757 .890 .792 24 Length of peduncle .767 .588 .694 .481 25 Least height of caudal peduncle .830 .689 .882 .778 26 Head length .913 .833 .952 .906 27 Eye diameter .778 .605 .818 .669 28 Pre-orbital length .826 .683 .891 .793 29 Post-orbital length .922 .850 .937 .877 30 Inter-orbital width .921 .849 .929 .863 31 Upper jaw length .844 .712 .876 .767 32 Lower jaw length .844 .712 .876 .767 33 Depth of mouth .774 .600 .787 .620 34 Depth at eye .870 .757 .848 .719 35 Gape width .873 .762 .875 .766 570 INDIAN J. MAR. SCI., VOL. 40, NO. 4, AUGUST 2011

Table 4—Meristic counts in different length groups of Liza parsia Length group First dorsal Second dorsal fin Pectoral fin Ventral fin Anal fin fin spines Spines Rays rays Spines Rays Spines Rays 12-14 4 1 8 14 1 5 3 9 14-16 4 1 8 14 1 5 3 9 16-18 4 1 8 14 1 5 3 9 18-20 4 1 8 14 1 5 3 9 20-22 4 1 8 14 1 5 3 9 22-24 4 1 8 14 1 5 3 9 24-26 4 1 8 14 1 5 3 9 26-28 4 1 8 14 1 5 3 9 28-30 4 1 8 14 1 5 3 9 Discussion the present study ranged between 0.0099to1.9652. It is universal that growth of fishes or any other In male it varied from 0.7259 to 1.27 and in female increases with the increase in body length. it varied from 0.0099 to 1.9652 and the K value Thus, it can be said that length and growth are of female is higher than that of male. Rao et al 17 interrelated. Length weight relationship is expressed reported that the condition factor of Liza parsia varied by the cube formula W = aL 3 by earlier workers from 0.64 to 1.69. (Brody 14 ; Lagler 15 ; Brown 16 ). In the present study During the present study, 36 morphometric the value of ‘b’ of Liza parsia ranged from 3.0094 characters were taken from species Liza parsia . to 3.1938. Here both length and weight were Of these characters, base of anal fin and dorsal positively correlated. A similar case of ‘b’ value fin showed a positive correlation in both sexes. was observed in cephalus by Luther 7. A study In the case of female, caudal fin height, pectoral fin regarding the length-weight relationship of Liza length, second dorsal height and length of peduncle parsia in relation to industrial pollution gave ‘b’ showed a positive correlation and all the other value range of 2.4986 to 2.5210 by Rao, et al 17 . characters in both sexes showed a high degree Mortuza and Rahman 18 estimated the length weight positive correlation. For instance, Dube and Dubey 22 relationship of Rhinomugil corsula and was Log in their study on Indian Mahseer recorded a W= -4.914±2.941logL in male and Log W= -5.052± simultaneous growth in length of head with increase 3.008logL in female. Katselisi et al 19 estimated in total length of fish. Al-Absy 23 while studying the length-weight relationship of Liza saliens as the relationship between the standard length and Log W= 0.0079± 3.01logL. Arrudai et al 20 calculated 21 morphometric measurements in the goat fish the length-weight relationship of Liza aurata as log Mulloides flavolineatus recorded a steady increase W =-1.938 + 2.929logL and that of Liza ramada was in all measurements. It is clear that the spine and expressed as: logW = - 1.978 + 2.937 log L. In the rays of first dorsal fin, second dorsal fin, anal fin, case of Valmugil seheli Moorthy et al21 reported the pectoral and ventral fin of Liza parsia remained ‘b’ value as 2.6207 showing an allometric growth constant in all groups of fishes having different pattern. Kurup and Samuel 8 calculated the length- body length. It means that in this study the meristic weight relationship of Liza parsia of Cochin estuary counts are independent of body size and there and found that the ‘b’ value of male is 2.5619 and that is no change in meristic counts in increase in of female is 2.4465 where the regression coefficient body length following Talwar and Jhingran 24 and of female is lower than the male. A similar finding is Vladykov 25 . This corroborates with the studies also obtained in the present study in which the in other fishes such as Mahseer sp. by Zafar et al 26 . regression coefficient of female is lower than that Variations in meristic characters were reported of the male. Babu and Neelakantan 9 reported the b in many fishes such as Nematalosa nasus by values of male and female as 2.79632 and 2.98863 Al-Hassan 27 , Pseudobagrus ichikawai by Watanabe 28 , respectively. All the earlier reports are in compliance and Perophyllum scalare by Bibi et al 29 . with the present study in which the ‘b’ value was very close to isometric value of 3 and this indicated Thus from the present investigation on length – that Liza parsia in the present study showed an weight relationship and condition factor of Liza parsia isometric growth. The condition factor obtained in indicate that the growth rate is quite satisfactory. RENJINI & BIJOY: LENGTH-WEIGHT RELATIONSHIP, CONDITION FACTOR AND MORPHOMETRY OF GOLD 571

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