The weight (W) of fishes (and other organisms) is exponentially related to their length (L) according to the equation W = aL b , where a is the intercept and b is the slope of the log-transformed relation (Le Cren 1951, Froese 2006. Based on the slope (b) of the relation between weight and length, one can check whether the growth of a fish species is isometric (b = 3, all fish dimensions increase at the same rate), hypoallometric (b < 3, a fish increases less in weight than predicted by its increase in length, i.e., it becomes more elongated as it grows; also termed negative allometric) or hyperallometric (b > 3, a fish increases more in weight than predicted by its increase in length, i.e., it becomes less elongated or more roundish as it grows; also termed positive allometric). Weight-length relations (WLRs) can be used for converting lengths into biomass, determining fish condition, comparing fish growth among areas, and as a complement to species-specific reproduction and feeding studies (Petrakis and Stergiou 1995, Koutrakis and Tsikliras 2003, Froese 2006. Thus, they are an important component of fisheries biology and when properly calculated they can be very useful to fisheries management.Over the last decade, the number of published articles dealing with WLRs of fishes is increasing in fast rate (Fig. 1). The majority of articles have been published in specialized fish journals, with 367 out of the 697 articles appear- In this editorial note, we set some criteria and recommendations on important issues (i.e., number of species, sample size, length range and preservation, reporting and Abstract. Weight-length relations of fishes are useful for estimation of biomass from length observations, e.g., in fisheries or conservation research. Here we provide some guidance to authors of such papers, in order to facilitate the publication and review process.
EDITORIAL NOTE ON WEIGHT-LENGTH RELATIONS OF FISHES
