Length weight relationship and condition factor of Mystus bleekeri (Day, 1877) in Rudrasagar Lake, a Ramsar site in Tripura

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess the length-weight relationship as well as condition factor of a small sized freshwater cat fish Mystus bleekeri from Rudrasagar Lake, a Ramsar site of Tripura. A total of 337 fish specimens were collected from June 2015 to May 2016 following random sampling approach using different types of fishing gears as gill net, cast net and drag net of various mesh sizes for the aforesaid purpose. The results revealed intercept ‘a’ and slope ‘b’ value as -4.310 and 2.816, respectively with R2= 0.99 at 95% confidence limit. A negative allometric growth has been observed in the present study as the growth coefficient value is less than 3 indicating the population of fish to be less rotund. The calculated Fulton’s condition factor value ranged from 1.76 to 2.60 with an average K value of 2.07 indicating a very healthy condition of the fish. This study is useful in providing relevant information in understanding the biology of the fish, estimation of fish condition in its environment and in the assessment of population dynamic parameters.