Length-Weight Relationships of 22 commercial fish from Margarita Island, Venezuela.

Journal of Research in Biology

ISSN No: Print: 2231 –6280; Online: 2231- 6299

An International Scientific Research Journal

Original Research

Journal of Research in Biology

Length-Weight Relationships of 22 commercial fish from Margarita Island, Venezuela.

Authors: Tagliafico A1, Rago N2 and Rangel MS1.

Institution: 1 Escuela de Ciencias Aplicadas del Mar, Universidad de Oriente, Boca de Río, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela.

2 Oceanografía y pesca, Fundación de Ciencias Naturales La Salle, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela.

ABSTRACT: Length-Weight Rela onships (LWR) were calculated for 22 commercial fish species caught by the ar sanal fishing fleet of Margarita Island, Venezuela. A total of 1,610 specimens were analysed, distributed in the following species: Lagocephalus laevigatus, Sphyraena guachancho, S. barracuda, Lutjanus purpureus, L. analis, L. griseus, Rhomboplites aurorubens, Lachnolaimus maximus, Priacanthus arenatus, Scomberomorus cavalla, S. brasiliensis, Euthynnus alle eratus, Auxis thazard, Sarda sarda, Thunnus atlan!cus, Rachycentron canadum, Caranx hippos, C. crysos, Selene setapinnis, Alec!s ciliaris, Trachinotus carolinus and Elops saurus. These length-weight rela onships can be used to improve fish sta s cs because of difficulty in obtaining weight of the fish in field.

Keywords: Lutjanidae, Scombridae, Carangidae, Elopidae, Sphyraenidae, Rachycentridae

Corresponding author: Tagliafico A.

Ar cle Cita on: Tagliafico A, Rago N and Rangel MS. Length-Weight Rela onships of 22 commercial fish from Margarita Island, Venezuela.

Journal of Research in Biology (2015) 5(3): 1707-1712

Web Address:

Dates: Received: 21 Jan 2015

http://jresearchbiology.com/ documents/RA0509.pdf

Accepted: 08 Feb 2015

Published: 16 May 2015

This article is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0), which gives permission for unrestricted use, non-commercial, distribution and reproduction in all medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Journal of Research in Biology An International Scientific Research Journal

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Tagliafico et al., 2015 INTRODUCTION

(Cuvier,

1828),

L.

griseus

(Linnaeus,

1758),

Estimation of biomass and regulation of catches

L. purpureus (Poey, 1866), Rhomboplites aurorubens

are necessary for fishery management; but the direct

(Cuvier, 1829), Lachnolaimus maximus (Walbaum,

measurement of the weight of each fish can be time

1792),

consuming or impossible to obtain in field. For

Rachycentron canadum (Linnaeus, 1766); whereas Fork

convenience, just size is often measured in body length,

Length (FL) was used for Scomberomorus cavalla

but the information about body weight is also taken into

(Cuvier, 1829), Scomberomorus brasiliensis (Collette

consideration.

Length-Weight

et al., 1978), Euthynnus alletteratus Rafinesque 1810,

Relationship (LWR) are useful tools and have been

Auxis thazard (Lacèpede, 1800), Thunnus atlanticus

extensively used to estimate the weight from the length

(Lesson, 1831), Sarda sarda (Bloch, 1793), Caranx

of the organisms (Sinovčić et al., 2004, Froese 2006,

hippos (Linnaeus, 1766), C. crysos (Mitchill, 1815),

Froese et al., 2014, Xiong et al., 2014). However, LWR

Selene setapinnis (Mitchill, 1815), Alectis ciliaris

studies were only available for less than 12% (3,587

(Bloch, 1787), Trachinotus carolinus (Linnaeus, 1766)

species) from around 32,470 species of fishes contained

and Elops saurus (Linnaeus, 1766).

For

this

reason,

Priacanthus arenatus (Cuvier,

1829)

and

in FishBase (Froese et al., 2014), and even smaller if we

The parameters a and b of LWR were estimated

only consider Caribbean or Venezuelan waters, where

using the potential equation W=aLb; were W is the total

the information on the LWRs is mostly limited to a few

weight expressed in grams, L the total or fork length

species (Tagliafico et al., 2014). In this study LWRs

according to the species expressed in centimetres, ‘a’ is

were estimated for 22 commercial fish species of the

the intercept, and ‘b’ is the slope (Beverton and Holt,

region.

1957, Froese, 2006). The model fit to the data was measured by the coefficient of Pearson r-squared ( r2 )

MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was carried out in Margarita Island, Venezuela

test and 95% confidence level of the limits of a and b were determined.

(10º51’50"-11º11'06"N/63º46’40"-

64º24'32"W), from January 2006 to December 2007.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fish landed at three fishing ports (Juan Griego, La Pared

A total of 1, 610 organisms belonging to 9

and El Tirano) and two fishing markets (Los Cocos and

families and 22 species were analyzed (Fig. 1). Values of

Conejeros) were sampled weekly. Specimens were

a and b, and their associated statistical information are

caught using traps, beach seines: purse seine, single line,

provided in Table 1. The coefficients of correlation of

and gillnets and long-lines, latter being both surface and

the regressions ranged between 0.82 and 0.998, and all

bottom. Detailed descriptions of vessels and fishing

were highly significant (P<0.0001).

gears are provided by Iriarte (1997) and González et al.,

The majority of the fish species studied show bvalues within the standard range (2.5-3.5) proposed by

(2006).

The specimens were identified using the keys of Cervigón (1991, 1993, 1994, 1996). Fish were weighed

Froese (2006); only for Priacanthus arenatus (b=2.281), it was slightly lower than this range (Table 1).

to the nearest 0.1 g and measured to the nearest 0.1 cm.

In Venezuela, for the fish studied, LWRs have

Total length (TL) was used for Lagocephalus laevigatus

only been previously reported for Lutjanus analis,

(Linnaeus, 1766), Sphyraena guachancho (Cuvier,

L. griseus and Sphyraena guachancho. Similar b-values

1829), S. barracuda (Edwards, 1771), Lutjanus analis

to previous studies were found for Lutjanidae, but for

1708

Journal of Research in Biology (2015) 5(3): 1707-1712

Journal of Research in Biology (2015) 5(3): 1707-1712

Elopidae

Rachycentridae Carangidae

Labridae Priacanthidae Scombridae

Lutjanidae

Sphyraenidae

Tetraodontidae

45.4-71.4 40.1- 131 17.6-86.6 14.4-40.3 22.5-57.9 22.7-83.1 20.1-58.9

104 56 30 61 52 44 14

Thunnus atlanticus* Rachycentron canadum

Caranx hippos*

Selene setapinnis*

Caranx crysos* Alectis ciliaris*

Trachinotus carolinus*

39.7-77.1

30.0-69.9

90

Sarda sarda*

34

31.5-48.0 20.2-79.0 20.8-54.0

11 81 30

S. brasiliensis* Euthynnus alletteratus* Auxis thazard*

Elops saurus*

27.1-188.7

57

Scomberomorus cavalla*

20.8-40.3

95

Rhomboplites aurorubens 17.5-39.2 22.4-37.5

20.4- 132

33

Lutjanus griseus 26 50

24.4-85

31

Lutjanus analis

Lachnolaimus maximus Priacanthus arenatus

19.7-86.3

43

49.4-123.6

41

Sphyraena barracuda

Lutjanus purpureus

23.1-100.5

24.3-62.8

L(cm) range

251

376

n

Sphyraena guachancho

Lagocephalus laevigatus

Species

226.8-2891.6

190-3471.4

100.0-3100.0 280.0-8960.0

080.0-680.40

056.7-10404.2

2041.2-7285.8 170.1 - 19000

311.9-4167.4

150.0- 822.10 110.0-5790.0 080.0-2000.0

141.8- 16000

050.0-963.90 198.5-765.40

080.0-737.10

113.4- 28000

160.0- 8200.0

150.0- 9752.2

640.0- 12100

085.1-4252.4

198.5-3061.7

W (g) range

0.004

0.012

0.045 0.139

0.06

0.02

0.053 0.0004

0.022

0.003 0.012 0.003

0.005

0.002 0.172

0.034

0.022

0.005

0.026

0.002

0.015

0.039

a

0-0.091

0.007-0.021

0.019-0.106 0.075-0.259

0.021-0.175

0.009-0.042

0.028-0.102 0-0.002

0.009-0.057

0-0.097 0.008-0.019 0.001-0.009

0.001-0.027

0-0.014 0.062-0.481

0.015-0.076

0.011-0.042

0.002-0.011

0.014-0.050

0.001-0.006

0.011-0.020

0.025-0.059

95% CI a

3.092

3.189

2.731 2.479

2.566

2.979

2.765 3.654

2.86

3.264 3.046 3.487

3.046

3.708 2.281

2.699

2.921

3.265

2.82

3.182

2.704

2.737

b

2.316-3.869

3.052-3.326

2.483-2.978 2.316-2.642

2.228-2.905

2.786-3.172

2.603-2.927 3.331-3.977

2.610-3.109

2.292-4.235 2.924-3.167 3.142-3.832

2.648-3.444

3.048-4.368 1.977-2.584

2.459-2.939

2.743-3.099

3.032-3.498

2.643-2.998

2.960-3.404

2.626-2.783

2.621-2.854

95% CI b

0.82

0.998

0.953 0.978

0.892

0.986

0.957 0.951

0.925

0.93 0.984 0.969

0.9

0.921 0.909

0.918

0.986

0.983

0.981

0.978

0.974

0.922

r2

Table 1. Estimated lengthâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;weight relationship parameters for 22 commercial fish species caught in an artisanal Caribbean Fishery *Fork length

Tagliafico et al., 2015

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Tagliafico et al., 2015

Figure 1. Fish species analysed: a) Lagocephalus laevigatus, b) Sphyraena guachancho, c) S. barracuda, d) Lutjanus purpureus, e) L. analis, f) L. griseus, g) Rhomboplites aurorubens, h) Lachnolaimus maximus, i) Priacanthus arenatus, j) Scomberomorus cavalla, k) S. brasiliensis, l) Euthynnus alletteratus, m) Auxis thazard, n) Sarda sarda, o) Thunnus atlanticus, p) Rachycentron canadum, q) Caranx hippos, r) Caranx crysos, s) Selene setapinnis, t) Alectis ciliaris, u) Trachinotus carolinus and v) Elops saurus.

1710

Journal of Research in Biology (2015) 5(3): 1707-1712

Tagliafico et al., 2015 S. guachancho b-value was lower (n=251; b=2.704) than

Cervigón F. 1991. Los peces marinos de Venezuela. I.

the previously registered in the area (n=45; b=3.271)

Fundación Científica Los Roques. ISBN 9800713417,

(Etchevers, 1975). LWR in fish species could be affected

9789800713419. 185 p.

by many factors, such as gonad maturity, sex, health, age, habitat, stomach full-ness, length ranges used, preservation

methods,

season,

population,

and

Cervigón F. 1993. Los peces marinos de Venezuela. II. Fundación Museo del Mar. Caracas. 497 p.

environmental conditions (Tesch 1968, Pauly 1984,

Cervigón F. 1994. Los peces marinos de Venezuela. III.

Froese 2006).

Fundación Museo del Mar. Caracas.

Our study contributes to the expansion of knowledge on the Caribbean fish species. This area is globally acclaimed as a “hotspot of endangered

295 p.

Cervigón F. 1996. Los peces marinos de Venezuela. IV. Fundación Museo del Mar. Caracas.

254 p.

species” (Cheung et al., 2007). The IUCN Red List

Cheung WWL, Watson R, Morato T, Pitcher TJ,

catalogues the species Lutjanus analis and Lachnolaimus

Pauly D. 2007. Intrinsic vulnerability in the global fish

maximus as Vulnerable; other ten species are considered

catch. Mar Ecol Progr Series 333: 1-12

as Less Concern (Thunnus atlanticus, Scomberomorus cavalla, S. brasiliensis, Euthynnus alletteratus, Auxis thazard, Sarda sarda, Caranx hippos, C. crysos, Alectis ciliaris and Elops saurus), whereas the other 10 species

Etchevers S. 1975. La relación longitud-peso en siete peces de interés comercial en el nororiente de Venezuela.

Bol Inst Oceanogr 14(2): 243-346

analysed in this work have not been categorized. In this

Froese R. 2006. Cube law, condition factor and weight–

regard, Tagliafico et al., (2012) previously demonstrated

length

that high frequency of all Lutjanidae species and Selene

recommendations. J Appl Ichthyol 22(4): 241-253.

setapinnis, captured in Margarita Island, were inferior to the maturity length. Considering the information available in FishBase, this work provides the first data of LWRs for 18 commercial species from Venezuela

relationships:

history,

meta-analysis

and

Froese R, Thorson JT, Reyes jr RB. 2014. A Bayesian approach for estimating length-weight relationships in fishes. J Appl Ichthyol 30(1): 78-85

(Froese and Pauly 2014) and represents an important

Froese R, Pauly D, editors. 2014. FishBase. World

baseline data for fisheries, making it useful for the

Wide

management and conservation of these species.

www.fishbase.org (accessed on 10 December 2014).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors thank all the fisherman and sellers for the patience in the measurement of the specimens. To Asdrúbal Lárez and INIA for the logistic cooperation.

Web

electronic

publication.

Available

at:

González LW, Eslava N, Guevara F. 2006 Catálogo de la pesca artesanal del Estado Nueva Esparta, Venezuela.

Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad de Oriente, Boca de Río, Venezuela. ISBN 9802341703 9789802341702 222p

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Monografía No. 42, Caracas. ISBN 9802350214

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Tagliafico A, Rago N, Rangel MS. 2014. LengthWeight Relationships of 21 species of Elasmobranchii from Margarita Island, Venezuela. J Res Biol 4 (7): 1458 -1464.

Tesch FW. 1968. Age and growth. In: Methods for assessment of fish production in fresh waters. W. E. Ricker (Ed.). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 93–123.

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