Some Growth Properties and Length at First Maturity of Big Scale Sand Smelt (Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810) in İznik Lake, Turkey

Abstract

In this study, the length at first maturity and growth characteristics of the big scale sand smelt (Atherina boyeri Risso 1810) were investigated in İznik Lake. Catching trials were conducted on a monthly basis at 4 different stations of the lake between March 2014 and February 2015 and beach seine net with 6 mm of codend mesh size was used in the samplings. The overall sex ratio of the subsample was founded as 1:1.46 (F:M; 1180 females, 1729 males). The fork length range were 3.3-11.2 cm for females and 2.9-9.7 cm for males. The growth equations were found as TW=0.005FL3.160 and TW=0.006FL3.067 for female and male respectively. Allometric (+) growth has been shown in both sex groups. According to the logistic regression model results, length at first maturity (L50) was estimated as 4.62 and 4.25 cm fork length for female and male respectively. While the growth properties of the species shown similarity with other habitats of populations, the values of length at first maturity (L50) shown some differences.