Journal of Applied Ichthyology J. Appl. Ichthyol. 27 (2011), 942–944  2010 Blackwell Verlag, Berlin ISSN 0175–8659 Received: February 15, 2010 Accepted: May 20, 2010 doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0426.2010.01589.x Short communication Length–weight and length–length relationships for four shad species along the western Black Sea coast of Turkey By D. Erguden, F. Turan and C. Turan Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, Faculty of Fisheries, Mustafa Kemal University, Iskenderun, Hatay, Turkey Summary This study investigates length–weight and length–length relationships of four shad species (Alosa caspia caspia, Alosa immaculata, Alosa maeotica, Alosa tanaica) captured in the western Black Sea coast of Turkey. A total of 686 specimens, 355 females and 331 males, were caught by gill net, trammel net and longline from 2006 through 2007 along the western Black Sea coast of Turkey. The relationships of total length (TL), fork length (FL) and standard length (SL) are presented for inhabiting in the Black Sea four shad species and the relationships between total length (TL) and body weight (BW) from the two localities, Sile and Karasu in the western Black Sea coast of Turkey. The Length–weight relationships generally indicated positive allometric growth in Alosa species for both males and females and an isometric growth for A. immaculata females. The coefficient b ranged from a minimum 2.97 for females of A. immaculata to a maximum 3.75 for both sexes A. c. caspia. Results indicated that the length–length relationship between the three length measurements were highly correlated (r2 > 0.99, P < 0.001). Introduction On the Turkish Black Sea coast the genus Alosa is represented by four species: Caspian shad Alosa caspia caspia (Eichwald, 1838); pontic shad Alosa immaculata Bennett, 1835; Black Sea shad Alosa maeotica (Grimm, 1901); and Azov shad Alosa tanaica (Grimm, 1901) (Whitehead, 1985). This study investigates length–weight and length–length relationships of these four species captured on the western Black Sea coast of Turkey. Some 76% of the shad production in Turkey is from the Black Sea (Zengin et al., 1998), where there is high fishing pressure on marine species. The aim of this study was to obtain comprehensive information on length–weight and length– length relationships for the four species. Materials and methods A total of 686 (355 females; 331 males) Alosa specimens were collected from 2006 to 2007 by gill net, trammel net and longline in two locations along the western Black Sea coast of Turkey, Sile (29º38¢N 41º15¢E; 41º15¢N 41º35¢E) and Karasu (41º07¢N, 30º38¢E; 41º06¢N, 30º42¢E). All species were identified according to Whitehead (1985); Aksiray (1987), and Turan et al. (2007) and rechecked against FishBase (http://www.fish base.org). In total, four species are included in the study: A. c. caspia, A. maeotica, A. tanaica, and A. immaculata. U.S. Copyright Clearance Centre Code Statement: Total length (TL), fork length (FL) standard length (SL), and body weight (BW) were measured in the laboratory to the nearest 0.1 cm and 0.01 g, respectively. Sex was macroscopically determined by gonad examination. Specimens were catalogued and deposited in the Fisheries Genetic Laboratory, Faculty of Fisheries, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey. The length–weight relationships were measured and described using the equation W = aTLb (Ricker, 1973; Bagenal and Tesch, 1978), the statistical significance level of r2 was estimated and the parameters a and b were estimated by least square linear regressions performed by the log-transformed equation, logBW = loga + blog TL (Beverton and Holt, 1996). Length–length relationships were estimated by linear regression. Prior to regression analysis of log W on log TL, log–log plots of length and weight values were performed for visual inspection of outliers (Froese, 2006). Only extreme outliers attributed to data error were omitted from analyses. Results and Discussion The length–length regressions applied to 686 specimens of the four Alosa species are presented in Table 1. Results indicated that the length–length relationships among the three length measurements were highly correlated (r2 > 0.99, P < 0.001). Estimated parameters of the length–weight relationship along with descriptive statistics by sex and species are given in Table 2. This study also provides new maximum sizes for A. tanaica. According to Tesch (1971), the value of the parameter b varies between 2 and 4. A value of 3 indicates that the fish grows symmetrically or isometrically; values other than three indicate allometric growth. In the present study, b (based on TL) varied from a minimum of 2.97 for A. immaculata females to a maximum 3.75 for both sexes of A. c. caspia. The r2 values ranged from 0.951 for A. immaculata males to 0.988 for A. maeotica females. All length–weight relationships were significant (P < 0.001), with all r2 values > 0.950. The length–weight relationships generally indicated positive allometric growth in Alosa species for both males and females and an isometric growth for A. immaculata females. In addition to the present study, Table 3 gives a comparison of published length–weight relationship parameters in different regions for the Alosa species. A. c. caspia showed positive allometric growth in the present study in contrast to studies from other geographical areas conducted in the Caspian and 0175–8659/2011/2703–0942$15.00/0 LWR and LLR of the shad species 943 Table 1 Length–length relationship comparisons of total length (TL), fork length (FL) and standard length (SL) of four shad species, western Black Sea coast Species Sex n Equation a b 95% CL of b r2 A. caspia Male 16 Female 14 Both 30 Male 273 Female 294 Both 567 Male 24 Female 27 Both 51 Male 18 Female 20 Both 38 TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL TL = a + bSL SL = a + bFL FL = a + bTL )0.905 0.425 0.675 )1.139 1.315 )0.182 )0.926 0.608 0.511 )0.878 0.028 0.988 )0.797 0.079 0.880 )0.832 0.063 0.934 )0.433 0.243 0.323 )0.261 0.031 0.368 )0.294 0.113 0.309 )0.499 0.316 0.337 0.018 0.211 )0.227 )0.150 0.236 )0.022 0.900 1.036 1.065 0.915 0.975 1.117 0.902 1.023 1.075 0.924 1.058 1.019 0.921 1.055 1.025 0.922 1.056 1.022 0.875 1.046 1.088 0.867 1.057 1.087 0.869 1.053 1.089 0.881 1.041 1.084 0.857 1.048 1.112 0.865 1.046 1.102 0.855–0.943 1.017–1.056 1.016–1.115 0.860–0.970 0.945–1.005 1.048–1.187 0.872–0.932 1.006–1.040 1.039–1.111 0.918–0.930 1.055–1.061 1.013–1.026 0.914–0.928 1.051–1.060 1.019–1.031 0.918–0.927 1.054–1.059 1.018–1.026 0.849–0.902 1.030–1.063 1.069–1.107 0.843–0.892 1.044–1.069 1.066–1.108 0.853–0.886 1.043–1.062 1.076–1.102 0.844–0.918 1.019–1.064 1.058–1.111 0.842–0.878 1.034–1.063 1.102–1.121 0.848–0.882 1.034–1.058 1.090–1.114 0.993 0.999 0.993 0.991 0.998 0.990 0.993 0.998 0.992 0.997 0.999 0.998 0.998 0.999 0.997 0.996 0.998 0.998 0.995 0.999 0.998 0.995 0.999 0.998 0.996 0.999 0.998 0.994 0.998 0.998 0.999 0.999 0.999 0.998 0.999 0.999 A. immaculata A. maetica A. tanaica n, number of individuals; a, intercept; b, slope; r2, coefficient of determination, CL, confidence limits. Table 2 Descriptive statistics and estimated parameters of length–weight relationships for four shad species caught on western Black Sea coast of Turkey Length characteristic Weight characteristic W = aLb Species Sex n TL Range (cm) W Range (g) a b 95% CL of b r2 A. c. caspia1 Female Male Both Female Male Both Female Male Both Female Male Both 14 16 30 294 273 567 27 24 51 20 18 38 16.3–20.0 15.0–21.0 15.0–21.0 14.0–34.2 13.2–34.1 13.2–34.2 17.6–33.8 16.0–33.2 16.0–33.8 16.0–30.0 15.5–29.0 15.5–30.0 32.1–112.0 32.1–112.0 51.0–103.2 22.2–343.3 19.7–341.1 19.7–343.3 43.6–347.2 29.7–331.7 29.7–347.2 32.8–275.1 29.8–228.4 29.8–275.1 0.0052 0.0015 0.0013 0.0100 0.0070 0.0078 0.0079 0.0044 0.0062 0.0048 0.0078 0.0051 3.29 3.69 3.75 2.97 3.07 3.04 3.02 3.19 3.09 3.21 3.03 3.18 2.921–3.654 3.381–4.012 3.461–4.116 2.904–3.053 2.991–3.158 2.990–3.104 2.887–3.181 2.996–3.391 2.977–3.214 3.072–3.363 2.885–3.287 3.058–3.327 0.970 0.978 0.954 0.955 0.951 0.952 0.988 0.980 0.981 0.991 0.976 0.984 A. immaculata A. maeotica1 A. tanaica1 n: sample size; a, intercept; b, slope; CL, confidence limits; r2, coefficient of determination (all significant P < 0.001). Length-weight relationship not previously reported for Turkish Black Sea. 1 Mediterranean seas (Chumaevskaya-Svetovidova, 1938; Economidis and Sinis, 1991), which reported negative allometric growth for this species. Nevertheless, the other three Alosa species (A. immaculata, A. maeotica, A. tanaica) in the present study showed the b values to be generally in agreement with similar results for Alosa species from the same geographical areas (Samsun, 1995; Tarkan et al., 2006). The observed differences could be due to the sampling procedure, sample size, length range, or changing environmental and habitat factors. Length–weight relationships in fishes can be affected by habitat, seasonal effect, degree of stomach fullness, gonad 944 D. Erguden et al. Table 3 Comparison of four shad species length-weight relationship parameters in various locations Shad Species Author(s) Location Country Sex Alosa c. caspia1 ChumaevskayaSvetovidova (1938) Economidis and Sinis (1991) Economidis and Sinis (1991) Tarkan et al. (2006) Tarkan et al. (2006) Samsun (1995) Samsun (1995) Samsun (1995) Ciolac and Patriche (2004) NE Caspian Sea Russia Both – – Sapanca Lake Kucukcekmece Lagoon Mid. Black Sea Coast Mid. Black Sea Coast Mid. Black Sea Coast Black Sea and Danube River Black Sea and Danube River Greece Greece Turkey Turkey Turkey Turkey Turkey Romania Female Male Both Both Female Male Both Both Bulgaria Both Alosa Alosa Alosa Alosa Alosa Alosa Alosa Alosa c. caspia1 c. caspia1 maeotica tanaica immaculata immaculata immaculata immaculata Alosa immaculata1 1 2 Kolarov (1991) Lmin-Lmax a b r2 316 18.0–22.0 0.6930 1.73 0.998 212 123 18 21 1039 851 1890 752 – – 13.2–32.0 9.6–24.6 11.6–31.2 11.0–31.6 11.6–31.6 20.4–38.0 0.0343 0.0389 0.0053 0.0049 0.0209 0.0246 0.0212 – 2.69 2.66 3.15 3.23 3.39 3.34 3.38 – 0.962 0.948 0.971 0.997 0.984 0.979 0.983 – 0.0062 2.57 – n 22022 9.0–36.02 Length-weight relationship of parameters reported in Fishbase (Froese and Pauly, 2009). Length measured as fork length (cm). maturity, health, general fish condition, and preservation techniques (Tesch, 1971; Wootton, 1990), all of which were not considered in the present study. This study presents the first reference on length–length and length–weight relationships for A. c. caspia, A. immaculata, A. maeotica and A. tanaica captured on the western Black Sea coast of Turkey. Acknowledgements Our thanks to TUBITAK (Project No. 106T149) for financial support. References Aksiray, F. 1987: The Identification Key of Turkish Marine Fishes, 2nd edn. Istanbul University Press, Istanbul. pp. 811. (in Turkish). Bagenal, T. B.; Tesch, A. T. 1978: Conditions and growth patterns in freshwater habitats. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford. Beverton, R. J. H.; Holt, S. J. 1996: On the dynamics of exploited fish populations. Chapman and Hall, London. Chumaevskaya-Svetovidova, E. V. 1938: Age and growth of Caspian shad (Caspialosa caspia salina) Svetovidov of the northeastern Caspian Sea. In: Complex studies of the Caspian Sea, E. V. C. Svetovidova (Ed.). Vol. 2. Academy of Sciences Press, Moscow & Leningrad, pp. 23–33. Ciolac, A.; Patriche, N., 2004: Structure of Danube shad (Alosa pontica Echelwald, 1838) spawner flocks migrating for reproduction in Danube River. Appl. Ecol. Environ. Res. 2, 53–58. Economidis, P. S.; Sinis, A. I. 1991: Alosa macedonica (Vinciguerra 1921). In: The Freshwater Fishes of Europe, Vol. 2. Clupeidae, Anguillidae. H. Hoestlandt (Ed.) AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden. pp. 297–308. Froese, R., 2006: Cube law, condition factor and weight–length relationships: history, meta-analysis and recommendations. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 22, 241–253. Froese, R.; Pauly, D. (Eds) 2009: Fishbase. World Wide Web electronic publication, http://www.fishbase.org. Version (12 ⁄ 2009). Kolarov, P. 1991: Alosa pontica pontica (Eichwald 1938). In: The Freshwater Fishes of Europe, Vol. 2. Clupeidae, Anguillidae. H. Hoestlandt (Ed.). AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden. pp. 337–368. Ricker, W. E., 1973: Linear regressions in fishery research. Fish. Res. 30, 409–434. 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Part 1: Chirocentridae, Clupeidae and Pristigasteridae. FAO Fisheries Synopsis, Rome, No. 125, Vol. 7, pp. 190–205. Wootton, R. J. 1990: Ecology of Teleost Fishes. Chapman and Hall, London, p. 404. Zengin, M.; Genc, Y.; Tabak, U. 1998: Research on catch data in important commercial fish species caught from 1990 to 1995 in the Black Sea (Result Report). Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, General Directorate of Agriculture Production and Development, Central Fisheries Research Institute, Trabzon, Turkey. p. 56. AuthorÕs address: Deniz Erguden, Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Fisheries, Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, TR-31220 Iskenderun, Hatay, Turkey E-mail: derguden@yahoo.com