LENGTH-WEIGHT RELATIONSHIP OF THREE COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT FISH SPECIES FROM BALOCHISTAN COAST, PAKISTAN

Length-weight relationship is an important component for the stock analysis for better fishery management. The length-weight relationship of three commercially important fish species was studied from Balochistan coast, Pakistan during present study. A total of 372 individuals of lesser tigertooth croaker (Otolithes cuvieri, Trewavas, 1974), Indian mackerel (Rastalliger kanagurta, Cuvier, 1816), and Indian oil sardine ( Sardinella longiceps, Valenciennes, 1847) were collected from Pasni, Gwadar and Ganz areas. The estimated length-weight relationship are, W = 0.013L(2.905) (R-2 = 0.964) for O. cuvieri, W = 0.0025L(2.725) (R-2 = 0.798) for R. kanagurta and W= 0.009L(3.015) (R-2 = 0.756) for S. longiceps. The present findings revealed that the exponent "b" values are ranged from 2.725 to 3.015, indicating an isometric growth pattern for all three species with strong correlation coefficients. The R-2 value shows the strong relation between length and weight of the species. The regression content 'a' is a scaling coefficient for the weight at the length of the fish. According to present findings, the environmental conditions for the growth of these species are favorable along the Balochistan coast, Pakistan.