Relationships between fish age and otolith size in spiny eel: Mastacembelus mastacembelus (Banks & Solander, 1794)

Abstract

In this study, the relationships of age groups with length, width, and weight of sagittal otolith in a total 187 specimens belonging to the spiny eel, M. mastacembelus population inhabiting Karakaya Dam Lake were examined. Age groups of the population ranged between I and IX. The length, width, and weight of otoliths were found between 1.44 -3.82 mm, 0.80 -1.71 mm, and 0.30 -3.80 mg respectively. There was a stronger and positive linear relationship between the otolith size (length, width, and weight) and age groups.

Some biological properties of spiny eel (Mastacembelus mastacembelus, Banks & Solander, 1794) living in the Upper Euphrates River Basin, Turkey

“…Several studies have been carried out on the morphological characteristics 5 , 10 , 11 , embryo development 12 , digestive system content 13 , otolith size-fish length 14 , fish age-otolith size 15 , reproduction and growth characteristics 16 – 18 of M. mastacembelus throughout Turkey. This study has got importance for being the first scientific research on the growth parameters of M. mastacembelus distributed in the Keban Reservoir located on the Euphrates River.…”