Length-weight relationships for 57 fish species of Bakircay river estuary in Candarli bay

Abstract

Known as the fourth longest river in the Aegean sea with its 129 km length, the Bakircay River flows into candarli Bay in the north of Aegean sea. This study was conducted to measure length weight relationships (LWRs) of fishes captured with different fishing gears in the estuary of Bakircay River. This is the first study on this subject. The fishes that caught by each gear and carried in boxes to the lab were measured for total length (TL) as cm and wet weighed (W) as g. The length-weight (LW) relationships were estimated by W=aL(b). The level of statistical significance for r(2) was determined with LogW=loga +blogn. LW relationships were calculated in 57 fish species of 27 families from Bakircay River Estuary in candarli Bay. 3487 fish samples were caught with beach seines, handlines, longlines, fyke nets, scoop nets, cast net and trammel net between November 2012 and December 2015. The number of the samples ranged from 9 individuals for Gusterosteus actileants to 133 ones for Solen spiera, r(2) values varied from 0.84 to 0.99. All regressions were highly significant (p<0.01). The value h of the LW regression changed between 2.371 in Engraulis efricrasicohrs and 3.490 in Syngnathus acus with a median of 3.134 where 25-75% of the values changed from 3.010 and 3,170. Species of Sparidae. Mugilidae and Gobiidae families were captured more than others, which can be accepted as a typical feature for Mediterranean estuarine areas.