Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(1): 25-27 E-ISSN: 2322-5270; P-ISSN: 2383-0956 Journal homepage: www.ij-aquaticbiology.com © 2015 Iranian Society of Ichthyology Short Communication Length-weight relationships of Garra rufa, in the Tigris and Persian Gulf basins of Iran Iraj Hashemzadeh Segherloo*1, Seyedeh Narjes Tabatabaei2, Aghil Mansouri1, Asghar Abdoli3, Mahdi Ghalenoei3, Kiavash Golzarianpour4 1Department of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, Shahr-e-Kord University, Shahr-e-Kord, Iran. 2Fisheries Department, Natural resources Faculty, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. 3Department of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management, Environmental Research Institute, University of Shahid Beheshty, Tehran, Iran. 4Faculty of Sciences, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad, Iran. Article history: Received 3 November 2014 Accepted 8 January 2015 Available online 2 5 February 2015 Keywords: Tigris basin, Persian Gulf basin, Length-weight relationship, Morphometrics. Abstract: Garra rufa, a bottom dwelling freshwater fish and native to the Middle East, is distributed in the southwestern Iran and the Tigris basin. Considering the importance of length-weight relationships data of a species in different habitats, the length-weight relationship of G. rufa from 13 rivers in the Persian Gulf and the Tigris basins was explored. The value of exponent b ranged from 2.74 to 3.19 with average of 2.99 in the Tigris basin and 2.96 in the Persian Gulf basin which was in normal range (2.5-3.5). As the length-weight parameters were concluded for each location separately, this information would be useful for further population dynamics researches. Introduction Garra rufa, a bottom dwelling freshwater fish, belongs to the family Cyprinidae and native to the Middle East (Jarvis, 2011). This species is distributed in the Southwestern regions of Iran in the Tigris, Persian Gulf, Lake Maharlu, Kor River and the Hormuz basins (Coad, 2013). A scale-less head, two pairs of barbels, an adhesive mental disc and cycloid scales are some characteristics of this species (Jarvis, 2011). Garra rufa feeds mostly on algae and diatoms (Coad, 2013) and its maximum total length has been recorded at 13 cm in Iran (Esmaeili and Ebrahimi, 2006). To estimate weight corresponding to a given length, growth rates, length and age structures, and other components of fish population dynamics, length and weight data are needed (Cherif et al., 2008; Froese, 2006). Also, the length-weight data of a species in different habitats will be useful to compare life history and morphological aspects of populations * Corresponding author: Iraj Hashemzadeh Segherloo E-mail address: ihashem@nres.sku.ac.ir inhabiting different habitats (Cherif et al., 2008). Esmaeili and Ebrahimi (2006) studied length-weight relationship of 291 specimens of G. rufa in Iran but they did not mentioned anything about the localities and it remained unclear whether the specimens were from a single locality or different localities. Therefore, due to the lack of length-weight relationship of different populations of G. rufa complex in Iran, this study was conducted to explore the length-weight relationships in 13 populations of G. rufa collected from Tigris and Persian Gulf basins. Materials and Methods The specimens were collected from 13 rivers in the Persian Gulf and Tigris basins by electrofishing. The collected specimens were fixed in 4% formalin, after over-anaesthetization. The locality and sampling data are provided in Table 1. In the laboratory each specimen measured to the nearest 1 mm (Total 26 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(1): 25-27 length, TL) and weighted to the nearest 0.1 g (weight, W). The length-weight relationship of G. rufa was determined by the method of least squares using the equation W = αLb (Keys, 1928) and logarithmically transformed into Log W = Log α + b Log L (Keys, 1928), where W is the weight of the fish in grams and L is the length of the fish in centimeters. Results and discussion The number of specimens analyzed in each locality and the mean body length and weight are presented in Table 1. The length-weight relationship parameters α, b, and R2 are denoted in Table 2. The results revealed that there was a significant relationship (P<0.001) between length and weight for fishes in each river. The normal distribution of River Coordinate s N TL min TL max TL m W min W max W m Tange haft 32° 55' N 48° 45' E 27 50.70 95.96 68.26 ± 13.58 2.45 13.32 5.95 ± 3.34 Beshar 30° 40' N 51° 32' E 21 54.82 101.62 75.21 1.97 13.98 5.78 ± 2.99 Mazoo 32° 48' N 48° 24' E 19 58.92 123.36 88.96 ± 18.51 2.66 28.31 10.51 ± 6.70 Palangan 35° 5' N 46° 37' E 51 63 178 137.1 ± 2.65 11.5 239 129.92 ± 60.15 Sirvan 35° 14' N 46° 18' E 27 60 148 96.2 ± 1.9 3.6 57.8 10.85 Kheirabad 30° 31' N 50° 27' E 70 50.74 124.84 82.32 ± 16.81 1.96 28.1 8.26 ± 5.07 Gamasiab 34° 22' N 47° 55' E 10 52.51 105.74 72.11 ± 16.85 2.10 18.06 6.34 ± 5.55 Ghalate 34° 30' N 47° 36' E 31 69.4 153.86 109.68 ± 25.97 4.46 55.85 21.93 ± 14.62 Cheshme gerdab 33° 29' N 47° 57' E 12 75.96 169.58 122.37 ± 29.80 5.87 73.71 28.52 ± 20.90 Maroon 30° 40' N 50° 18' E 12 53.04 100.16 73.50 ± 12.08 1.84 13.45 5.40 ± 3.01 Dashte chenir 28° 43' N 51° 47' E 17 48.18 120.62 82.44 ± 18.20 1.53 23.74 8.22 ± 5.40 Kheirak-shekarak 29° 14' N 51° 37' E 20 54.82 111.12 79.39 ± 18.18 1.91 15.78 6.10 ± 4.06 Tange faryab 29° 13' N 51° 27' E 47 49.38 105.06 78.95 ± 11.32 1.64 14.15 6.11 ± 2.54 N: Sample size; TL min: minimum total length; TL max: maximum total length; TL m: average total length; W min: minimum weight; W max: maximum weight; W m: average body weight. Table 1. Sampling sites, number of examined specimens, total length and weight data (Min, Max, Mean ± Standard Deviation (SD)) of the studied populations of G. rufa. Basin River b α R2 Tigris Tange haft 2.74 0.00005 0.95 Beshar 2.86 0.00002 0.93 Mazoo 2.99 0.00001 0.99 Palangan 2.95 0.05 0.98 Sirvan 3.00 0.01 0.97 Kheirabad 2.96 0.00002 0.98 Gamasiab 3.19 0.00001 0.98 Ghalate 3.16 0.00001 0.99 Cheshme gerdab 3.08 0.00001 0.99 Persian Gulf Maroon 3.14 0.00001 0.97 Dashte chenir 3.02 0.00001 0.99 Kheirak-shekarak 2.82 0.00002 0.98 Tange faryab 2.86 0.00002 0.98 Table 1. The Length-Weight relationship parameters (a, b, and R2) for G. rufa in different rivers. 27 Hashemzadeh Segherloo et al./ Length-weight relationships of Garra rufa exponent b usually is 2.5-3.5 (Froese, 2006), and for G. rufa in all rivers it was similar to the noted range. The average of parameter b was 2.99 in Tigris basin and 2.96 in the Persian Gulf basin, and for all specimens, the overall value was 2.98 (2.74-3.19), this value is concordant with the b calculated by Gerami et al., (2013) and Esmaeili and Ebrahimi (2006) for G. rufa in Cholvar Branch of the Karun River, since there are similar values in some populations. This results can be useful for further research on G. rufa. Refrences Cherif M., Zarrad R., Gharbi H., Missaout H., Jarbout O. (2008). Length-weight relationships for 11 fish species from the Gulf of Tunis (SW Mediterranean Sea, Tunisia). Pan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences, 3(1): 1-5. Coad B. (2013). Fresh water fishes of Iran. Available from: www.Briancoad.com. Retrieved 6/1/ 2013. Esmaeili H.R., Ebrahimi M. (2006). Length-weight relationships of some freshwater fishes of Iran. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 22: 328-329. Froese R. (2006). 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