Length–weight relationship and condition factor of red mullet (Mullus barbatus barbatus linnaeus, 1758) from the Western Black Sea, Turkey

Abstract

A total of 1021 specimens of red mullet Mullus barbatus barbatus Linnaeus, 1758 were collected by using bottom trawl between April and December 2013 from Western Black Sea of Turkey. Total fish length ranged from 6.9-14.5 cm and weight ranged from 2.60-31.36 g. The lengthweight relationships were determined for males, females and combined sexes as W=0.0055L3.25 , W=0.0065L3.17, W=0.0059L3.21 respectively. All fishes have been found to be positive allometric growth (b˃3, P<0.001). The results indicated further that the length-weight relationships were highly correlated (r²>0.93, P<0.001). Fulton’s condition factor (K) was calculated as 0.968±0.16 for females, 0.970±0.14 for males and 0.974±0.12 for all individuals respectively.