Relationships between Otolith Dimensions and Body Length of Five Cyprinid Fish Species from Lake Skadar, Adriatic Catchment of Montenegro

This study examined the relationship between the lapillus otolith morphometric variables (length, height and weight) and body growth of five cyprinid fish species: Alburnus scoranza Bonaparte, 1845. Chondrostoma ohridanum S. Karaman, 1924, Rutilus albus Maric, 2010, Rutilus prespensis (S. Karaman, 1924) and Squalius platyceps Zupancic, Maria, Naseka & Bogutskaya, 2010 from Lake Skadar, Montenegro. The nonlinear regression model proved to be more suitable for the examined cyprinid fish species. There were no statistically significant differences found between left and right otoliths for all examined fish species. The otolith variable most strongly related to fish size forA. scoranza, R. albus and R. prespensis was otolith length, while for C. ohridanum and S. platyceps the variable most strongly related to fish size was otolith weight. This study provides the first comprehensive results regaiding the relationship between the lapillus otolith morphometric variables and body length of the examined fish species.