Length-weight relationships of Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810 and A. hepsetus Linnaeus, 1758 (Teleostei: Atherinidae) from some inland, brackish water and marine systems of Turkey

Abstract

Members of Genus <em>Atherina </em>inhabit inshore marine environments as well as brackish and freshwater habitats. Growth properties of <em>Atherina</em> species remain poorly understood, despite their wide distribution. This study aims to present the length&ndash;weight relationships of Mediterranean sand smelt, <em>Atherina hepsetus</em> Linnaeus, 1758 and Big-scale sand smelt, <em>Atherina boyeri </em>from some inland, brackish water and marine systems of Turkey. During the study conducted from November 2014 to June 2017, a total number of 1183 fish specimens ranging from 2.5-15.4 cm in total length and 0.06-23.9 g in weight were analyzed. The slope value <em>(b)</em> of the length weight relationships obtained for <em>A. boyeri</em> and&nbsp;<em>A.</em>&nbsp;<em>hepsetus</em> were between 2.563-3.412 with an average value of 3.26 and between 2.523-3.118 with an average value of 2.81, respectively. While eight populations of <em>A. boyeri</em> showed negative allometric growth pattern, seven of them exhibited positive allometric growth pattern. The only one population of <em>A. hepsetus </em>showed positive allometric growth pattern, whereas its three populations had negative allometric growth pattern. This study also provides new maximum length recorded for <em>A. hepsetus</em>.