Length-weight relationship of Hoplias aff. malabaricus (Bloch, 1794) in a subtropical wetland.

F Corrêa,G V Canziani,S Huckembeck

doi:10.1590/1519-6984.05015

F Corrêa, G V Canziani + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.05015

Copy DOI

Abstract

Hoplias aff. malabaricus (Bloch, 1794) is a predatory fish from the Erythrinidae family, widely distributed, occurring in river basins of South America (Oyakawa and Mattox, 2009). This species has a vital role in ecosystems as top predator besides having an important economic value for fisheries (Chaves et al., 2009). Nevertheless, few studies are conducted on bioecological characteristics such as length - weight, which can provide information on morphometric variation in different populations, determining whether somatic growth is allometric or isometric (e.g.Froese, 2006). Moreover, these relationships are useful for fisheries in order to calculate weight and biomass when only length measurements are available as well as for making comparisons of stocks in different regions ( Froese, 2006). Thus, the present study aims to determine the length-weight of specimens of

Highlights

The present study aims to determine the length-weight of specimens of H. aff. malabaricus collected in the Lagoa do Peixe National Park and to compare two methods of analysis
The sampling of specimens was performed monthly in a wetland area (31°06’S, 50°51’ W), between April 2008 and May 2009 in the Lagoa do Peixe National Park (LPNP), with the special authorization provided by SISBIO (N°: 482920/2007-6)
We measured the length and weight of 110 specimens for the determination of the length/weight. This ratio was determined by the equation WT=a*LTB, where WT the total weight of fishes (g), a the coefficient related to body shape, LT the total length and b exponent that is related to the isometric or allometric growth of fishes

Summary

Introduction

Few studies are conducted on bioecological characteristics such as length - weight, which can provide information on morphometric variation in different populations, determining whether somatic growth is allometric or isometric (e.g. Froese, 2006). These relationships are useful for fisheries in order to calculate weight and biomass when only length measurements are available as well as for making comparisons of stocks in different regions (Froese, 2006). The present study aims to determine the length-weight of specimens of H. aff.

Results

Conclusion