Relationship between otolith morphometry and fish size of Otolithoides pama (Hamilton, 1822) from Hooghly-Matlah estuary, India

Abstract

The correlation between sagitta otolith morphometry (length, weight, and breadth) and weight of <em>Otolithoides pama</em> (Hamilton, 1822) occurring in the Hooghly-Matlah estuary of West Bengal was examined for one year (February 2017 to January 2018). The sagitta otoliths were extracted, cleaned, photographed, and measured. Otolith length, weight, and breadth were recorded for each pair of sagittae. The length and weight of the fish sample, as well as those of otoliths, ranged from 51 to 327 mm, 1.1 to 270 g, 2.0 to 13.9 mm, and 0.0085 to 0.756 g, respectively. A linear relationship existed between the length and weight of otolith with the length of fish. The relationship between total fish length (TL) and otolith length (OL) was recorded as TL = 0.038 (OL) + 0.123 (<em>R²</em> = 0.799), that of total fish length (TL) and otolith weight (OW) being TL = 0.025 (OW) - 0.221 (<em>R²</em> = 0.887), that of total fish length (TL) and otolith breadth being TL = 0.031 (OB) + 0.089 (<em>R²</em> = 0.781). The morphometric relationships indicated that length, weight, and breadth of otolith exhibited a high correlation with the total length of fish.