Biometric analysis of the flat needlefish Ablennes hians (Valenciennes, 1846) (Pisces: Belonidae) in the south-eastern Arabian Sea

摘要

The study was aimed to investigate the relationship between various morphometric measurements and meristic counts and to establish the length-weight relationships (LWRs) and length-length relationships (LLRs) of flat needlefish Ablennes hians (Valenciennes, 1846) that were collected from longline fisheries in the south-eastern Arabian Sea between October 2015 and August 2017. Twenty-two morphometric measurements and four meristic counts of 173 specimens were examined for biometric analysis, and 350 specimens (45-122 cm TL, 90-2585 g TW) were analyzed for studying LWRs. Morphometric variables showed a significant correlation between the variables with the highest observed correlation between SL, FL and TL (r 0.99). The descriptive statistics for all the meristic counts were found within the range provided by the earlier authors. A differential relative growth was observed across morphometric characters. Strong positive allometry was recorded for pectoral fin length, the height of dorsal and anal fin and pre-ventral length, whereas pronounced negative allometry was evident in case of morphometric variables from the head region. The LWRs showed similar growth pattern for male (b = 3.447) and female (b = 3.299) individuals. Therefore, the LWR was expressed for pooled data as W = 0.000321L(3)(.)(312) (R-2 = 0.929,p 0.001).