SOME MORPHOLOGICAL OBSERVATION OF VICTORY LOACH, Schistura scaturigina (MCCLELLAND, 1839) IN THE ATRAI RIVER, DINAJPUR, BANGLADESH

Abstract

The study was conducted to describe the length-weight relationships (LWRs), condition factors (CFs) and length-length relationships (LLRs) of Schistura scaturigina collected from the Atrai River of Dinajpur, Bangladesh from January 2017 to June 2017. Fish samples were collected using push net (1.50 × 1.00 m2 , mesh size 6 mm) with the help of local fishermen from two stations (JG and KS) at monthly interval. Body size of 1165 individuals ranged from 3.2 to 5.8 cm in length and 0.22 to 1.70 g in weight. The values of slope (b) varied from 2.973 to 3.027 and 2.993 to 3.028 for male and female, respectively where all calculated “b” values were not significantly different (p > 0.05) from expected (b= 3.0) values. Besides, the values of “b” from LWRs indicated isometric growth (b= 3) in all months during study period. The values of Fulton's condition factor (CFf) recorded as 0.86±0.02 to 0.71±0.01 and 0.84±0.01 to 0.71±0.01 for male and female, respectively while the values of relative body weight (BWr) varied from 99.69±0.97 to 101.13±2.51 and 99.87±1.01 to 100.74±0.84 for male and female, respectively. During the study, the values of form factors (a3.0) were recorded as 0.0048 to 0.0086 and 0.0062 to 0.0094 for male and female from both stations (JG and KS) of the Atrai River. In LLRs (among TL, SL, HL and FL), strong relationships were found of TL vs. SL (r2 > 0.898), TL vs. FL (r2 > 0.973), FL vs. SL (r2 > 0.853), HL vs. TL (r2 > 0.525), HL vs. SL (r2 > 0.502) and HL vs. FL (r2 > 0.448) between sexes of this species. Finally, it may be concluded that the findings of this research on S. scaturigina would be baseline information for future research and management.