Relationships Between Fish Sizes and Otolith Sizes for Three Different Gray Mullet Species from Koycegiz Lagoon (Mugla)

In this study, the relationships between fish sizes and otolith sizes were investigated in three mullet species from the Koycegiz Lagoon. Total length of 263 mullets, 119 Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, 1758, 91 Chelon labrosus (Risso, 1827) and 53 Chelon saliens (Risso, 1810), and the length, width and weight of right and left otoliths were measured. The difference between right and left otolith measurements was not statistically significant, thus the average of right and left otolith measurements was used in this study. The average total lengths of mullets were determined as 29.0 cm, 26.0 cm, 22.5 cm for M. cephalus, C. labrosus and C. saliens, respectively. In this study, the largest otolith length was measured in M. cephalus individuals with 11.66 mm, and the smallest otolith length was measured in C. saliens individuals with 2.93 mm. Biometric relationships between otolith measurements and total length have shown that all studied species are quite suitable for reliable size estimates.