Comparative study on length weight relationship of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus (Linnaeus 1758) and sickle fin Liza falcipinnis (Valenciennes, 1836) from Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria

Abstract

The length-weight relationship of two mullets Mugil cephalus and Liza falcipinnis was investigated from the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria. 505 individuals of the species comprising 305 of M. cephalus and 200 of L. falcipinnis were bought from fisher folks from Makoko landing site for this study. The morphometric and biometric parameters were recorded and the LWR was calculated. The Total length (TL) of M. cephalus ranged between 12.5 to 28.7cm with a mean length of 16.9±0.14, weight ranged between 20.5 to 196.4g with mean of 49.9±1.53g and that of L. falcipinnis ranged in total length from 12.5 to 21.5cm with a mean length of 17.06±0.13 cm and weight ranged from 20.1g to 180g with a mean weight and standard error of 81.76±2.9g. The mean condition factor (K) for M. cephalus and L. falcipinnis was 1.22 and 1.120 respectively while the LWR equation of M. cephalus was Log w= -1.7487+2.7745LogL (n= 360, r= 0.9427), while that of L. falcipinnis was Log W = -2.0564+ 3.1845 Log L, n= 200, r = 0.7079.