Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(1): 35-41 E-ISSN: 2322-5270; P-ISSN: 2383-0956 Journal homepage: www.ij-aquaticbiology.com © 2015 Iranian Society of Ichthyology Original Article Age, growth and some biological characteristics of Silver bream (Blicca bjoerkna L., 1758) (Cyprinidae) from Aras Dam Lake in Northwest of Iran Hadi Jamali*1, Soheil Eagderi2, Esmaeil Esmaeilzadegan1, Rahman Patimar3 1Department of Fishery, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. 2Department of Fishery, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. 3Department of Fishery, Faculty of Natural Resources, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran. Article history: Received 1 March 2014 Accepted 14 December 2014 Available online 2 5 February 2015 Keywords: Blicca bjoerkna Length-weight relationship Condition factor Aras Dam Lake Abstract: We collected Silver bream Blicca bjoerkna from March to July 2013 from Aras Dam Lake (North-west of Iran) and investigated its age, size, and some biological characteristics. The maximum age was 5+ years. The total length and weight of specimens ranged 137-278 mm and 26-247 g for male and 134-282 mm and 26-289 g for female, respectively. Length-weight relationship was estimated as W = 1E-06TL3.44 for females, W = 1E-06TL3.45 for males and W = 1E-06TL3.44 for the sexes combined. Sex ratio was 1:1.42 in favor of males. The growth model was positive allometric for males, females and sexes combined. The calculated maximum condition factor was 0.34 in male and 0.37 in female. The most frequent age classes in the samples were 2+ years for males and females. Introduction Silver bream, Blicca bjoerkna, is a cyprinid fish species and widespread in stagnant waters of lakes and reservoirs, calm rivers and canals throughout central and northern Europe, from the east of England to the Caspian Sea basin (Spillmann, 1961; Wheeler, 1969; Lelek, 1980; Kottelat, 1997). This species has been reported from the southern Caspian Sea basin, including Aras, Atrak, Gorgan, Tajan, Babol, Haraz, Sardab, Tonekabon and Safidrud Rivers as well as the Anzali and the Boojagh Wetlands (Derzhavin, 1934; Holčík and Oláh, 1992; Nejatsanatee, 1994; Kiabi et al., 1999; Abdoli, 2000; Abdoli and Naderi, 2009; Khara et al., 2011). Silver bream is strictly a phytophilous species (Balon, 1975, 1984; Philippart and Vranken, 1983) reproducing from May to July (Kottelat and Freyhof, 2007). Since, this species spawns at shallow depths, it is highly sensitive to changes in water level; in the bays of the Kakhovka reservoir, Spivak (1987) observed that this fish lays eggs along the shoreline * Corresponding author: Hadi Jamali E-mail address: saeed.jamali11@gmail.com at depths to 40 cm on willow roots, floating residues of the previous year’s plants and stems of growing reed. Males of this species become partially mature in the 2nd year and females in the 3rd-5th year. Silver bream can live up to 16 years (Pecl, 1990). Despite being an abundant species, Silver bream is of little importance as its meat is of poor quality. Nevertheless, this species is an important component in the diet of predatory fishes (Okgerman et al., 2012). In Iran, studies on the biology and ecology of B. bjoerkna is rare, but out of Iran several works on its feeding strategy and growth (Specziár et al.,1997), growth and reproduction aspects (Balık et al., 1999; Hamalosmanoğlu, 2003), maturity and fecundity (Gürsoy, 2001) and length-weight relationship (Tarkan et al., 2006;Yılmaz et al., 2012) have been published. Although there is no economic value of Silver bream in general, this species caught for consumption in Aras Dam Lake due to the decrease of commercial 36 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(1): 35-41 fish as a result of overfishing. Aras River is one of the largest rivers of the Caspian Sea basin. Aras dam with max capacity of 1350 × 106 m3, max area of 153 km2, mean depth of 20 m and height of 36 m, was constructed in 1972 on this river. This study aimed to describe the age structure, growth pattern, condition factor (KA) and length- weight relationship (LWR) of B. bjoerkna inhabiting Aras Dam Lake (Western-Azerbaijan Province, Iran). These biological data of fishes are imperative for both fishery biology and taxonomic studies and give information on the condition and growth patterns of fish that are necessary for proper management and conservation of the wild population (Oscoz et al., 2005). Materials and Methods A total of 392 specimens were caught using gillnets (20 m × 2 m) of various mesh sizes (16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 45, 50, and 55 mm, knot to knot) monthly during March to July 2013 (in the last week of each month) from Aras Dam Lake (46°54'52.05''E, 39°09'42.11''N). In the field, all specimens were anaesthetized by 1% clove solution and then preserved in 10% formaldehyde solution. In the laboratory, all specimens were measured for total length (TL) and total body weight (TW) to the nearest 0.01 mm (using a digital caliper) and 0.01 g (using a digital balance), respectively. Age was determined from both left and right opercula based on banding patterns, being reviewed three times (each time by a different person) using a 20-40X binocular microscope under reflected light. The relationship between TL and TW was determined using the equation: TW = aTLb; where a is the intercept and b is the slope (coefficient of allometry) (Pauly, 1984). Sex was determined by visual examination of the gonadal tissue. Condition factor (KA) was calculated using the equation KA = W/Lb (Ricker, 1975), where W is the body weight (BW) in g; L is the total length (TL) in cm; b is the parameters of the TL-BW relationship. According to Froese (2006), the factor 100 is used to bring KA close to unity. Analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) was performed to test for significant differences in weight-length relationships between sexes. Any significant difference in the overall sex ratio was assessed using the chi-square test (Zar, 1984). All statistical analyses were performed with a significance level of P<0.05 using the SPSS 21 software package. Results The total length and weight of males range 137-278 mm and 26-247 g, respectively, while those of females range from 134-282 mm and 26-289 g, respectively. The majority of specimens were belonged to age group 2+, with 5+ being the oldest age recorded for both sexes. The observed length-at- Age group Total length ± SD Min–Max Total weight ± SD Min–Max N Male 1+ 185.8 ± 26.17 154-226 79.6 ± 45.49 33-149 17 2+ 203.8 ± 34.6 137-262 112.7 ± 56.4 26-216 131 3+ 207.1 ± 33.1 138-278 114.2 ± 55.7 27-248 63 4+ 221.1 ± 13.5 200-247 131.7 ± 39.4 89-248 18 5+ 270 270 230.9 230.9 1 Female 1+ 170.7 ± 22.2 146-206 58.7 ± 32.3 31-130 12 2+ 201.4 ± 38.4 134-266 112.2 ± 63.7 26-223 91 3+ 211.8 ± 34.2 143-276 126.1 ± 67.2 27-289 48 4+ 234.9 ± 21.87 209-282 157.9 ± 45.3 98-241 9 5+ 236.5 ± 13.4 227-246 161.7 ± 12.6 152-171 2 Table 1. Average total length (mm) and weight (g)-at-age of B. bjoerkna in Aras Dam Lake 37 Jamali et al./ Some biological characteristics of B. bjoerkna age in the population was different between sexes, females being longer and heavier than males (Table 1). Length and weight frequency distribution of the fish (Figs. 1 and 2)indicate that the most frequent size classes in the samples were 208-222.8 mm and 26-52.3 g for males and148.8-163.6 mm and 26-52.3 g for females, respectively. Females were rare in length classes greater than 267.2-282 mm. The growth model was positive allometric for males, females and sexes combined because the b value was significantly different from 3 (Pauly’s Test, tmale = 9.5, tmale = 9.49, tsexes combined = 12.6, tpooled = 1.96, P>0.05). The overall ratio of females to males was 1: 1.42 and Chi-square analysis indicated a significant difference from an expected ratio of 1: 1 (χ2 = 113.27, P<0.05). An unequal sex ratio was observed among length classes (Fig. 1). The total length-weight relationships were evaluated for males, females and sexes combined. A significant relationship with the high regression coefficient (r>0.98) was found between the length and weight of the Silver bream. The length-weight relationships were found as W = 1E-06TL3.45 for males, W = 1E- 06TL3.44 for females, and W = 1E-06TL3.44 for sexes combined (Fig. 3). The calculated condition factor (KA) values are shown in Figure 4. There was no significant difference in mean KA between sexes (t-test, P>0.05). The calculated minimum and maximum Figure 1. Total length (mm) frequency of male and female B. bjoerkna in Aras Dam Lake. Figure 2. Total weight (g) frequency of male and female B. bjoerkna in Aras Dam Lake. 38 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(1): 35-41 KA was 0.27 and 0.34 for 5+ and 2+ in male and 0.30 and 0.37 for 5+ and 2+ in female, respectively. Age frequency distribution of the fish (Fig. 5) indicated that the most frequent age classes in the samples were 2 year for males and females. Discussion The total lengths and weights of examined Silver bream specimens ranged 13.4-28.2 cm and 26-289 g, respectively. The standard lengths of this species ranged from 3.8 to 32.9 cm in Lake Balaton (Specziár et al., 1997). Balık et al. (1999) reported that distributions of the fork lengths and weights of Kuş Lake population of Silver bream were 3.5-17.2 cm and 0.5-134.6 g, respectively. These ranges were determined as 9.6-49.2 cm and 11-269 g for the Silver bream of the lake Sapanca (Hamalosmanoğlu, 2003). Tarkan et al. (2006) studied with Silver bream specimens were 12-21.2 cm of total lengths. Differences of weight and length distributions can be attributed to sampling time and method, type of length measured, population density and ecological Figure 3. Relative growth curves (total length versus total weight) for males, females, and sexes combined of B. bjoerkna in Aras Dam Lake. 39 Jamali et al./ Some biological characteristics of B. bjoerkna features of studied lakes (Yılmaz et al., 2012). The growth model was positive allometric for males, females and sexes combined. Specziár et al. (1997) reported that growth of Silver bream population in Balaton Lake, Hungary, was positive allometric with b value of 3.267. In Turkey, b values of LWR for females, males and total individuals of B. bjoerkna inhabiting Lake Kuş were 3.24, 3.27 and 3.31, respectively (Balık et al., 1999). These parameters were determined as 3.09 for females, 2.96 for males and 3.04 for entire population of B. bjoerkna in Lake Sapanca by Hamalosmanoğlu (2003), and 3.18 for all specimens in the same lake by Tarkan et al. (2006). Our results were in accordance with the previous works. The variation in the b exponent which is interpreted as variation in fish condition or fitness could be attributed to the different environmental conditions that vary between rivers and between years in a river, and act as a local selective pressure on the fish. Therefore, variation in the b exponent can be attributable to a species response to different habitat conditions (Weatherley, 1972). The sex ratio (female: male) was 1:1.42 in favor of males. This ratio was estimated 1:0.35 in Lake Kuş population of B. bjoerkna (Balık et al.,1999), 1:1.07 and 1:0.53 in Sapanca Lake (Gürsoy, 2001; Hamalosmanoğlu, 2003) and 1:0.98 in Lake Ladik (Turkey) (Yılmaz et al., 2012) populations of B. bjoerkna. Nikolsky (1980) reported that sex ratio varied considerably from species to species; however, in the majority of species, it is close to one. However, subsequent changes in this ratio may be explained by a number of hypotheses, including differences in habitat preference according to the season or sex, sampling errors and selective mortality (Fernandez and Rossomanno, 1997). The maximum age of Silver bream in this study was Figure 4. Condition factor of male and female B. bjoerkna in Aras Dam Lake. Figure 5. Age (year) frequency of male and female B. bjoerkna in Aras Dam Lake. 40 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(1): 35-41 5+ years that is less than that of reported by Okgerman et al.(2012) in Sapanca Lake (9+ years), Kirilyuk (1991) in Kremenchug Reservoir (11+ years) and Sasi and Berber (2012) in Uluabat Lake (7+ years). The calculated maximum KA was 0.34 in male and 0.37 in female for 2+ years of Silver bream. There is no published information about the condition factor of Silver bream to compare with the present results. KA reflects, through its variations, information on the physiological state of the fish in relation to its welfare. From nutritional and reproductive points of view, higher KA values show the accumulation of fat and gonadal development (LeCren, 1951; Angelescu et al., 1958). KA also gives information when comparing two populations living in certain feeding, density, climate, and other conditions in terms of the period of gonad maturation and degree of feeding activity of a species to verify whether it is making good use of its feeding source (Weatherley, 1972). The length, weight and age characteristics of Silver bream from the western Iran basin indicate a short life span (5+ years in both sexes), and a moderate body weight (weight-length relationship: b>3). These findings provide important new data with respect to the biology of this species. It is suggested assessment of the potential impacts of habitat degradation on populations of this species. Reference Abdoli A. (2000). The Inland Water Fishes of Iran. Iranian Museum of Nature and Wildlife, Tehran. 378 pp. Abdoli A., Naderi M. (2009). Biodiversity of Fishes of the Southern Basin of the Caspian Sea. Abzian Scientific Publications, Tehran. 243 pp. Angelescu V., Gneri F.S., Nani A. (1958). La merluza del mar argentino (biologia e taxonomia). Servicio de hidrografia naval, H1004: 1-224. Balık S., Ustaoğlu M.R., Sar H.M. (1999). Investigation on growth and reproduction characteristics of white bream (Blicca bjoerkna L. 1758) population in Lake Kuş (Bandırma). Istanbul University Journal of Aquatic Products, (Special Issue) 223-231. Balon E.K. (1975). Reproductive guilds of fishes: A proposal and definition. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 32: 821-864. Balon E.K. (1984). Patterns in the evolution of reproductive styles in fishes. In: G.W. Potts, R.J. Wooton (Eds.). Fish reproduction: Strategies and tactics. Academic Press, London: 35–53. Derzhavin A.N. (1934). Freshwater fishes of the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. Introduction. Trudy Azerbaidzhanskogo Otdeleniya Zakavkazskogo Filiala Akademii Nauk SSSR, Sektor Zoologii, Baku, 7: 91-126. Fernandez-Delgado C., Rossomanno S. (1997). Reproductive biology of the mosquitofish in a permanent natural lagoon in south-west Spain: two tactics for one species. Journal of Fish Biology, 51: 80-92. Froese R. (2006). Cube law, condition factor and weight- length relationships: history, meta-analysis and recommendations. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 22: 241-253. Gürsoy C. (2001). Size at maturity and fecundity of white bream (Blicca bjoerkna L. 1758) and Baltic vimba (Vimba vimba L. 1758) fish populations in Lake Sapanca. Master Thesis, Istanbul University, Istanbul, p. 20. Hamalosmanoğlu M. (2003). Growth and reproduction features of vimba (Vimba vimba L. 1758) and white bream (Blicca bjoerkna L. 1758) living in Sapanca Lake. Ph.D. Thesis, Gazi University, Ankara, p. 79. Holčík J., Oláh J. (1992). Fish, fisheries and water quality in Anzali Lagoon and its watershed. Report prepared for the project - Anzali Lagoon productivity and fish stock investigations. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, FI: UNDP/IRA/88/001 Field Document 2: 109 pp. Khara H., Sattari M., Nezami S., Mirhashemi-nasab S.F., Mousavi S.A., Ahmadnezhead M. (2011). Parasites of some bonyfish species from Boojagh wetland in the southwest shores of the Caspian Sea. Caspian Journal of Environmental Sciences, 9(1): 47-53. Kiabi B.H., Abdoli A., Naderi M. (1999). Status of the fish fauna in the South Caspian Basin of Iran. Zoology in the Middle East, 18:57-65. Kirilyuk O.P. (1991). Age Structure and Growth of White Bream (Blicca bjoerkna) in Kremenchug Reservoir. Gidrobiologicheskiy Zhurnal, 27: 92-97. Kottelat M. (1997). European freshwater fishes. Biologia, 52: 1-271. 41 Jamali et al./ Some biological characteristics of B. bjoerkna Kottelat M., Freyhof J. (2007). Handbook of European freshwater fishes. Publications Kottelat, Cornol, Switzerland. Le Cren E.D. (1951). The length-weight relationship and seasonal cycle in gonad weight and condition in the perch Perca fluviatilis. Journal of Animal Ecology, 20(2): 201-219. Lelek A. (1980). Les poissons d’eau douce menacés en Europe. Coll. Sauvegarde de la Nature n° 18. Conseil de l’Europe, Strasbourg. Nejatsanatee A.R. (1994). Ameerkalaye Lagoon in Lahijan, Abzeeyan, Tehran, 5 (1 and 2): 2-4. Nikolsky G.V. (1980). Theory of fish population dynamics. Otto Koeltz Science Publishers, Koenigstein. 323 p. Okgerman H.C., Elp M., Atasagun S. (2012). The growth and reproduction of white bream (Blicca bjoerkna L. 1758) in an oligo-mesotrophic lake in northwest Anatolia (Sapanca, Turkey). Turkish Journal of Biology, 36: 125-134. Oscoz J., Campos F., Escala M.C. (2005). Weight–length relationships of some fish species of the Iberian Peninsula. Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 21: (1)73- 74. Pauly D. (1984). Fish Population Dynamics in Tropical Waters: A Manual for Use for Programmable Calculators. ICLARM Studies and Reviews 8, 325 pp. Pecl K. (1990). The Illustrated Guide to Fishes of Lakes and Rivers. Printed in Czechoslovakia by Svoboda. Philippart J.C., Vranken M. (1983). Atlas des poissons de Wallonie. Distribution, Ecologie, Ethologie, Pêche, Conservation. Cahiers d’ethologie Appliquée. 3 (1-2). Ricker W.E. (1975). Computation and interpretation of biological statistics of fish populations. Department of Environment, Fisheries and Marine Service, Ottawa, ON. 382 pp. Sasi H. and Berber S. (2012). Age, growth and some biological characteristics of white bream (Blicca bjoerkna L., 1758) in Uluabat Lake, in Northwestern of Anatolia. Asian Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, DOI: 10.3923/ajava. 2012. Specziár A., Tölg L., Bíró P. (1997). Feeding strategy and growth of cyprinids in the littoral zone of Lake Balaton. Journal of Fish Biology, 51: 1109-1124. Spillman C.J. (1961). Faune de France, n° 65. Poissons d’eau douce Paul Le Chevalier, Paris. Spivak E.G. (1987). Peculiarities of reproduction of white bream, Blicca bjoerkna, in Bys of Kakhovka Reservoir. Voprosy Ikhtiologii, 1: 101–105. Tarkan A.S., Gaygusuz Ö., Acıpınar H., Gürsoy Ç., Özuluğ M. (2006). Length-weight relationships of fishes from the Marmara region (NW-Turkey). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 22: 271-273. Weatherley A.H. (1972). Growth and Ecology of Fish Populations. Academic Press, London, pp: 293. Wheeler A. (1969). Fishes of the British Iles and North- West Europe. London: Macmillan. Yılmaz S., Yazıcıoğlu O., Erbaşaran M., Esen S., Zengin M., Polat N. (2012).Length-weight relationship and relative condition factor of white bream, Blicca bjoerkna (L., 1758), from Lake Ladik, Turkey. Journal of Black Sea/Mediterranean Environment, 18(3): 380- 387. Zar J.H. (1999). Biostatistical Analysis. 4th ed. Prentice- Hall, New Jersey, 929 p.