Length-weight relationships for nine freshwater teleosts collected from river Ganga, India

Abstract

The Length-Weight Relationships (LWRs) of fish were studied covering six families and nine species (Bagarius bagarius, Sperata aor, Channa striatus, Clarias batrachus, Sperata seenghala, Wallago attu, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Labeo rohita and Catla catla) collected from the river Ganga during the period from January 2010 to June 2011. A total of 1827 specimens were used to estimate the length-weight relationship parameters. Estimates of b ranged from minimum of 2.586 for C. batrachus to a maximum of 3.249 for S. aor; two species (B. bagarius and W. attu) showed isometric growth (b = 3), three species (S. aor, L. rohita and C. catla) showed positive allometric growth (b>3), while four species (C. batrachus, C. striatus, S. seenghala and H. molitrix) showed negative allometric growth (b<3). The r 2 value ranged from 0.91 to 0.99. One maximum length (H. molitrix) was new to science against FishBase. © 2011 Academic Journals Inc.