Biometric indices of near threatened reba carp, Cirrhinus reba from an oxbow lake in southwestern Bangladesh

Abstract

Cirrhinus reba, is a freshwater fish species which is distributed throughout the South Asian countries. The current study reports the detailed biometric indices of C. reba in the Bergobindapur oxbow lake (Baor) located in southwestern Bangladesh. The parameters assessed included length-frequency distributions (LFD), length-weight relationships (LWR), form factor (a_3.0) and length at first sexual maturity (L_m) and four types of condition indices (i.e. allometric, K_A; Fulton, K_F; Relative, K_R and Relative weight, W_R).Conventional fishing equipment such as cast nets and monofilament fixed gill nets were used to collect samples from July to August 2019. Digital slide calipers were used to assess total length (TL), standard length (SL), fork length (FL), and trunk length (TrL), and body weight (BW) was quantified with an electronic balance with 0.01 g precision. Total 157 specimens with lengths ranging from 12.24 to 24.82 cm and weights ranging from 22.00 to 100.27 g were studied. The computed ‘b’ demonstrated negative allometric growth (< 3.00) in pooled sexes for the LWR. In this investigation, the mean of W_R (100.36) did not differ significantly demonstrating that the environment was still in good shape. Furthermore, the size of C. reba at sexual maturity was estimated as 14.40 cm TL. The findings of this study would be worthwhile for the sustainable management of reba carp fisheries.