The evaluation of length-weight relationship and growth in the dominant catfishes from Persian Gulf, Hormozgan provine range

Morphometric characters are essential and important to estimate the population of fish species. This study be done to examine length-weight relationshipin four species including Netuma thalassina (Rüppell, 1837), Plicofollis dussumieri (Valenciennes, 1840), Netuma bilineata (Valenciennes, 1840) and Plicofollis layardi (Günther, 1866)from Persian Gulf coasts. The sampling be done during spring 2016 to winter 2017, monthly, through the fixed coastal Moshta and Trawl tours. In total, 495 fishes were collected including 212 P. dussumieri, 151 N. thalassina, 120 P. layardi, and 12 N. bilineata. The significant differences were observed in total length and total weight between four catfish species. The comparison of total length and total weight showed the significant differences between four seasons. The autumn and summer included the highest (42.80%) and the lowest (16%) of species percentage. The maximum of total length was observed in P. dussumieri during summer (Mean 45.24±0.70) and the minimum in P. layardi during autumn (Mean 15.08±3.83). The maximum of total weight was for P. dussumieri during autumn (Mean 1135.80±360.86) and the minimum in P. layardi during autumn (Mean 40.20±3.39). In total, the different morphometric relationships in four species represent the strong correlation between total length and total weight. Among catfishes, N. thalassina (R2=0.98, P<0.05), P. dussumieri (R2=0.97, P<0.05), and P. layardi (R2=0.99, P<0.05)showed the isometric growth, whereas, the allometric growth was observed in N. bilineata (R2=0.98, P>0.05).