Species Diversity and Length-Weight Parameters for Elasmobranches in the Persian Gulf (Hormozgan Province) and Oman Sea

This study aimed to investigate on species diversity of elasmobranches in the Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf (Hormozgan province) and Oman Sea, and length- weight relationships for dominant species were estimated. For this purpose, samples were collected using both industrial-research bottom trawlers of using“Ferdows” class ship and shrimp trawlers by-catch, between May 2014 and September 2015. A total of 709 individuals, belonging to 28 elasmobranch species (19 batoids from 11 families and 9 sharks from 5 families), were collected and studied. Between the species of batoids, seven species were dominant, including Torpedo sinuspersici (107 individuals), Himantura randalli (99 individuals), Gymnura poecilura (77 individuals), Brevitrygon imbricata (79 individuals), Rhinobatos punctifer (68 individuals), Pastinachus sephen (46 individuals) and Aetobatus flagellum (17 individuals), while among sharks, five species, including Iago omanensis (63 individuals), Rhizipriondon acutus (47 individuals), Carcharhinus macloti (35 individuals), R. oligolinx (17 individuals) and Chiloscyllium arabicum (18 individuals) were dominant in the sampling region, for which length –weight parameters were estimated. In general, most species showed positive allometric or isometric growth. Also, both the disk length-weight and disk width-weight relationships showed a good fit, indicating the credibility of these factors for investigating the length-weight relationships.