Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(2): 119-128 E-ISSN: 2322-5270; P-ISSN: 2383-0956 Journal homepage: www.ij-aquaticbiology.com © 2015 Iranian Society of Ichthyology Original Article Population dynamic parameters of the highly endemic fish, Alburnoides qanati Coad and Bogustkaya 2009, (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in the Kor River Basin, Iran Mohadeseh Sadat Tahami1, Hamid Reza Esmaeili*1, Mohsen Safaie2 1 1Ichthyology Lab., Department of Biology, College of Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran, 71454. 2Fisheries Department, Hormozgan University, Bandar Abbas, Iran. Article history: Received 25 January 2015 Accepted 17 March 2015 Available online 2 5 April 2015 Keywords: Asymptotic length Growth coefficient Growth performance index Management Conservation Abstract: The present study provides the data on the population parameters of an endemic qanat spirlin, Alburnoides qanati from the endorheic Kor River basin of Iran to assess the stock status of this cyprinid fish species, which is highly important from management and conservation points of views. Fish specimens (387) were collected from Moshkan Stream, Kor River basin, Iran in 2011-2012. Asymptotic length (L∞) and growth coefficient (K) were estimated at 123.9 mm and 0.31/year for females and 93 mm and 0.49/year for males, respectively. Growth performance index (Ø') was calculated as 8.47 and 8.35 for female and male specimens, respectively. Total mortality (Z) of females (1.56/year) was higher than males (1.14/year) whereas natural mortality (M) of female specimens (0.44/year) was lower than male specimens (0.65/year). Data on growth and mortality parameters and also length-weight relationship of A. qanati revealed significant differences with corresponding data from other Alburnoides species from Iran and other countries, which could be attributed to habitat’s differences and specific species characteristics. Introduction Alburnoides bipunctatus (Bloch, 1782) was the name applied to most populations of spirlins (riffle minnows or tailor fish) across Europe and the Middle East from France north of the Alps eastwards to the Black, Caspian and Aral Sea basins (Coad and Bogutskaya, 2012) and reportedly to be one of the abundant and widespread groups in Iranian endorheic and exoreic basins (Esmaeili et al., 2010). However, ongoing research was revealed a greater diversity and presence of at least seven species in different basins of Iran, including the Caspian Sea, Lake Orumiyeh (Urmia), Tedzhen River, Kavir, Namak Lake, Tigris River, Persian Gulf drainage and Kor River basins (Bogutskaya and Coad 2009, Coad and Bogutskaya, 2009, 2012; Esmaeili et al., 2010, 2014a) of which the Kor River populations have been assigned to Alburnoides qanati, qanat * Corresponding author: Hamid Reza Esmaeili E-mail address: esmaeili@susc.ac.ir tailor fish by Coad and Bogustkaya (2009). Members of the genus Alburnoides are lithophilic and rheophilic fishes, which inhabit in barbell and grayling zones and spawn on gravel and rubble (Breitenstein and Kirchhofer, 2000). The spirlins are very sensitive to human activities and levels of dissolved oxygen. Having low tolerance to water polluted by industrial, agriculture or urban wastes makes these cyprinid fishes a good biological indicator of the environment quality (Čihăr, 1999). In European waters, spirlins are extremely threatened and nearly close to extinction because of this sensitivity (Kirchhofer, 1997; Lusk et al., 1998). The freshwater fishes of Iran are also faced to recent severe droughts, climate change, pollutions, introduction of exotic fishes and anthropogenic impacts, and as a consequence, many fish populations have been intensively affected 120 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(2): 119-128 especially sensitive fishes, like the spirlins (Esmaeili et al., 2014a, b). Hence, there is a constant need for an increase in knowledge on different aspects of biology of these fishes, including estimating growth parameters as an indicator of fish health and habitat quality to implant effective management and conservation measures. However, many of these aspects on A. qanati have not been documented in Iran, partly because of narrow endemic range and no commercial importance due to its slow growth rate and small size. Therefore, due to the information scarcity on the population dynamics of A. qanati, coupled with the need to provide much-needed scientific data for the management and rational exploitation of this valuable resource, the present study was undertaken to evaluate and to estimate the growth characteristics (growth parameters) of this species to assess the stock status of this endemic fish species from a spring-stream system in Kor River basin of Iran for the first time. Material and Methods The samples were collected from Moshkan spring- stream system in Kor River basin located at N 30˚36'16.9'' and E 52˚56'40.1''. Sampling was performed monthly from March 2011 to April 2012 by electrofishing device. Samples were fixed in 10% formalin solution and transported to the laboratory. Some morphological characters, including: total length (TL), fork length (FL), standard length (SL) and maximum and minimum body width were measured to the nearest 0.01 mm and fish weight (gr) to the nearest 0.1 gr. Sexes were determined by investigation of the gonads. The relationship between the length and weight were determined by fitting the data to a potential relationship in the form of: W = 𝛼Lb, where W is the fish weight; L, fish length; and 𝛼 and b are the parameters to be estimated, with b being the coefficient of allometry based on the test given by Pauly (1980). Prior to regression analyses, log–log plots of length and weight values were performed for visual inspection of outliers (Froese, 2006). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test significant relationship between length and weight. To calculate growth performance and measure the back-calculation of growth in length, data were put in to the FISATII software. The von Bertalanffy growth function was used to study the overall growth performance using the values of growth in length and Phi-Prime (Ø') (Bertalanffy, 1934; Sparre and Venema, 1992), as follows: 𝐿𝑡 = 𝐿∞(1-𝑒 −𝑘(𝑡−𝑡0)) ∅′ = 𝑙𝑛𝐾 + 𝑙𝑛𝐿∞ where Lt is total length at age t, L∞ is the ultimate total length that an average fish should achieve if it continues to live and growth, K is the growth coefficient that determines how fast the fish approaches to L∞, t0 is hypothetical age Lt=0, and Ø' is overall growth performance. Estimations of the mean total mortality rate (Z) was obtained from using length converted catch curve analysis. Natural mortality (M) was calculated using the equation of Pauly (1980): 𝐿𝑜𝑔10𝑀 = 0.0066 − 0.279𝐿𝑜𝑔10𝐿∞ + 0.6543𝐿𝑜𝑔10𝐾 + 0.4634𝐿𝑜𝑔10𝑇 Where, M is the natural mortality; L∞ is the asymptotic length; K is the growth co-efficient of the von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF) and T is the mean annual water temperature (°C) of sampling site. Mortality rate was calculated by Length Converted Catch Curve Method (Pauly, 1980): 𝐹 = 𝑍 − 𝑀 , 𝐸 = 𝐹 𝑍⁄ = 𝐹 𝐹 + 𝑀⁄ Where Z is total mortality, F is fishing mortality, E is exploitation coefficient and M is natural mortality. Results The descriptive statistics on A. qanati specimens, collected from Moshkan spring-stream, Kor River basin are presented in Table 1. Minimum and maximum total length (TL) for female and male specimens were 24.76 and 118.66 and 24.88 and 87.07, respectively (Table 1). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA, P<0.05) showed a high significant relationship between length and weight of A. qanati in both sexes and the estimates of the 121 Tahami et al./ Population dynamics of Alburnoides qanati parameter b, varied between 3.30 and 3.45 for females and 3.32 and 3.44 for males with high r2 values of 0.97 to 0.98 for both sexes (Table 1, Figs. 1a, b). The parameters of growth including growth coefficient (K), asymptotic length (L∞), overall growth performance (Ø'), and total, fishing, natural and exploitation mortality (Z, F, M, E) for females and males of A. qanati are given in Table 2 and von Bertalanffy growth curves are shown in Figure 2. It can be realized that infinity length (L∞) of females is greater than males (123.9 vs. 93 mm, respectively) and value of K parameter for females is lower than Length parameter (mm) Sex Min Max b a r2 N TL Female 24.76 118.66 3.45 0.0033 0.98 209 Male 24.88 87.07 3.44 0.0033 0.98 155 FL Female 23.00 110.1 3.35 0.0044 0.97 196 Male 23.42 81.86 3.32 0.0047 0.97 141 SL Female 21.02 102.96 3.30 0.0055 0.98 219 Male 20.76 75.06 3.35 0.0047 0.98 168 TL, total length; FL, fork length; SL, standard length; b, regression slope; α, intercept; r2, coefficient of determination; N, number of specimens. Table 1. Descriptive statistics and estimated parameters of the length-weight relationships (LWRs) for females and males of Alburnoides qanati collected from Kor River Basin, during 2011-2012. Figure 1. Length- Weight relationship of Alburnoides qanati from Kor River Basin, Iran. a c b 122 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(2): 119-128 males (0.31 vs. 0.49, respectively) (Table 2). Discussion The ranges of A. qanati length obtained in this study is in the rages reported for other Alburnoides species from different regions. It indicates that females are almost larger than males (Table 3). This attribute could be interpreted as an inter-population pattern related to nature of water body (river, stream, spring, qanat), different habitat quality, growth rate and some intrinsic factors. Length-weight relationships (LWRs) showed highly significant positive relationships for A. qanati as it can be seen in other reports of this genus (Table 4) in the range of 2.5-3.6 (Treer et al., 2000; Patimar et al., 2012; Tabatabaei et al., 2014). The estimation of b parameter is remained within the expected range of 2.5–4 reported by Tesch (1971). The upper limit showing deep body form and that fish getting more weight as its length increases. The reasons for the variation of b in the different regions are reported to be due to seasonal fluctuations in environmental parameters, Growth Parameters L∞(mm) K Ø' Z M F E Female 123.9 0.31 8.47 1.56 0.44 1.12 0.72 Male 93 0.49 8.35 1.14 0.65 0.49 0.43 von Bertalanffy growth parameters (L∞, K,), overall growth performance (Ø'), total mortality (Z), fishing mortality (F), natural mortality (M) and exploitation mortality (E). Table 2. Growth parameters for females and males of Alburnoides qanati from Kor River basin, Iran. Figure 2. Von Bertalanffy growth curves of Alburnoides qanati (a., female; b. male). 123 Tahami et al./ Population dynamics of Alburnoides qanati physiological conditions of the fish at the time of collection, sex, gonad development, food availability and quality in habitat, diet, stomach fullness, health and the preservation techniques of the samples (Tesch, 1971; Esmaeili, 2001; Esmaeili and Ebrahimi, 2006; Esmaeili et al., 2014c). Fitting the von Bertalanffy growth formula (VBGF) to back-calculated lengths resulted in the estimation of higher values of L-infinity than the maximum observed total lengths for both sexes. This length is seen as a capacity for growth (Bagenal and Tesch, 1978) and inter-sex differences in this parameter of the VBGF correspond to different growth rates of the sexes. On the other hand, a different VBGF can be a result of resource allocation between growth and reproduction. Therefore, differences between sexes in the VBGF parameters could also reflect differences in the reproductive effort of the fish (see Bagenal and Tesch, 1978; Patimar et al., 2012). It is theoretically admitted that growth parameters L∞ and K are negatively correlated (Gaertner et al., 2008). The parameters of von Bertalanffy’s equation obtained for linear growth of A. qanati confirm the theoretical assumption explained in Raikova-Petrova et al. (2011) that the smaller (L∞), shows a faster growth rate (K) which is remarkably exhibited in male and female populations of A. qanati. The K parameter of male specimens is higher than females (0.49 vs. 0.31, respectively) revealing that the male grows rapidly initially and approaches its asymptotic length (L∞=93 mm) earlier in life. The same as other species of the family Cyprinidae, the females of A. qanati were found to have reasonably larger L∞ (123.9 vs. 93 mm, respectively) and smaller K- values than males (0.31 vs.0.49, respectively). A comparison between estimates of von Bertalanffy Species Sex TL Age Country Reference A.B. F 10.3 6+ Velika Morava River, former Yugoslavia Soric and Ilic (1985) A.B. F 12.53 6+ Oltu stream, Coruh Basin, Turkey Yıldırım et al. (1999) A.B. U 11.72 --- Rudava River, Slovakia Siryova (2004) A.B. F 11.0 4+ Sava River, Croatia Treer et al. (2006) A.B. U 13.0 (SL) --- European freshwater systems Kottelat and Freyhof (2007) A.B. U 16.0 3+ Azerbaijan Abdurahmanov (1962) A.B. U 12.5 --- Madarsu Stream, National Park of Golestan, northern Iran Akbaripasand (1999) A.E. U 15.0 --- Sardabroud River, northern Iran Abdoli (2000) A.E. M 9.5 4+ Zarrin-Gol River, northern Iran Patimar and Dowlati (2007) A.E. F 11.0 4+ Zarrin-Gol River, northern Iran Patimar and Dowlati (2007) A.E. U 14.0 6+ Rivers of northern Iran Abdoli and Naderi (2009) A.E. M 11.0 4+ Qanat of Uzineh, northern Iran Patimar et al. (2012) A.E. F 11.1 4+ Qanat of Uzineh, northern Iran Patimar et al. (2012) A.N. A.N. A.N. A.N. A.N. A.N. A.E. A.E. M F M F M F M F 6.06* 7.45* 6.49* 6.91* 8.41* 8.62* 8.01* 8.70* Gharachai, Namk basin, Iran Gharachai, Namk basin, Iran Jajrud, Namak basin, Iran Jajrud, Namak basin, Iran Cheshme Ali, Kavir basin, Iran Cheshme Ali, Kavir basin, Iran Tajan River, Caspian basin, Iran Tajan River, Caspian basin, Iran Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) A.Q. A.Q. M F 8.71 11.87 Kor River basin, Iran Kor River basin, Iran Present study Present study Table 3. Maximum observed length (TL, cm) and age (years) for different Alburnoides species in the European region and Iran. A.B., A. bipunctatus; A.E., A. eichwaldii; A.N., A. namaki; A.Q, A. qanati; F, female; M, male; U, unsexed; * mean TL. 124 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(2): 119-128 length-at-age growth parameters for different species and populations of spirlins (Skorva, 1972; Breitenstein and Kirchhofer, 2000; Treer et al., 2000; Treer et al., 2006; Raikova-Petrova et al., 2011; Seifali et al., 2012; Patimar et al., 2012; Tabatabaei et al., 2014 and present study) reveals that these parameters vary for different populations, species at different water bodies (e.g. qanat, stream, river) and different distribution ranges (Table 5). The L∞ and K-values ranges from 93 to 123.9 and 0.31 to 0.49, respectively. Many studies have revealed that under different environmental conditions, biological features such as life span (Abdoli et al., 2007; Mann et al., 1984; Ricker, 1975), age at maturity (Lobón‐ Cerviá et al., 1996), age structure and growth rate (Abdoli et al., 2007; Kamal et al., 2009; Patimar et al., 2012b; Basilone et al., 2004; Naddafi et al., 2005; Tabatabaei et al., 2014), the maximum length (L∞) (Basilone et al., 2004; Kamal et al., 2009; Naddafi et al., 2005; Tabatabaei et al., 2014) can change. For example, according to Saifali et al. (2012), population parameters for south Caspian spirlin (A. eichwaldii) are as follows: Asymptotic length (L∞) =104.48 mm; Growth co-efficient (K/year)= 1.19; Natural mortality (M/year)= 0.97; Fishing mortality (F/year)= 2.43; Total mortality (Z/year) =3.4 and Exploitation level (E)= 0.71. In the present work, Ø' was estimated to be 3.86 and 3.75 for female and male (based on the L∞ of 9.3 cm and 12.39 cm) specimens of A. qanati, respectively, which is less than other spirlins (Table 6). According to Pauly (1979), phi prime values are very similar within related taxa and have narrow normal distributions. However, similarity of this index in Species Area Sex Length α b Reference A.B. Dobra River, Croatia C TL 0.0059 3.2245 Treer et al. (2000) A.B. Bednja River, Croatia C TL 0.0150 2.7970 Treer et al. (2000) A.B. Middle Korana River, Croatia C TL 0.0088 3.1043 Treer et al. (2000) A.B. Lower Korana River, Croatia C TL 0.0030 3.5567 Treer et al. (2000) A.B. Sava River, Croatia C TL 0.0044 3.4032 Treer et al. (2000) A.B. A.B. A.B. Ҁoruh River, Turkey Ҁoruh River, Turkey Ҁoruh River, Turkey C F M FL FL FL 0.0249 0.0375 0.0166 2.79 2.62 2.95 Torcu-Koҁ et al. (2006) Torcu-Koҁ et al. (2006) Torcu-Koҁ et al. (2006) A.B. Sava River, Croatia C TL 0.0083 3.025 Treer et al. (2006) A.B. Seyhan Dam Lake, Turkey C TL 0.0028 2.72 Ergu ̈den and Goksu (2009) A.B. Emajõgi River Basin, Estonia C SL 0.0103 3.251 www.fishbase.org A.E. A.E. Zarrin-Gol River, northern Iran Zarrin-Gol River, northern Iran M F TL TL 0.0054 0.0088 2.59 2.52 Patimar and Dowlati (2007) Patimar and Dowlati (2007) A.E. A.E. A.E. Qanat of Uzineh, northern Iran Qanat of Uzineh, northern Iran Qanat of Uzineh, northern Iran M F P TL TL TL 0.0068 0.0079 0.0072 3.2559 3.2067 3.2387 Patimar et al. (2012) Patimar et al. (2012) Patimar et al. (2012) A.Q. A.Q. A.Q. A.Q. A.Q. A.Q. A.E. A.E. Gharachai, Namk basin, Iran Gharachai, Namk basin, Iran Jajrud, Namak basin, Iran Jajrud, Namak basin, Iran Cheshme Ali, Kavir basin, Iran Cheshme Ali, Kavir basin, Iran Tajan River, Caspian basin, Iran Tajan River, Caspian basin, Iran F M F M F M F M TL TL TL TL TL TL TL TL 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 2.87 3.05 3.26 3.20 2.77 3.05 3.26 3.30 Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) A.Q. A.Q. Kor River basin, Iran Kor River basin, Iran F M TL TL 0.0033 0.0033 3.45 3.44 Present study Present study * Small letters indicate comparison of column and large letters indicate comparison of row. Table 4. Parameters of the length-weight relationship of spirlins, Alburnoides species. A.B., A. bipunctatus; A.E., A. eichwaldii; A.N., A. namaki; A.Q., A. qanati; F, female; M, male; C, combined sex; P, population. 125 Tahami et al./ Population dynamics of Alburnoides qanati northern populations of Alburnoides (ex. south Caspian Sea spirlin and the European populations) and its difference with A. qanati may reflect the distinctiveness of northern and southern populations of Alburnoides. Mortality parameters are higher for Caspian spirlin than A. qanati from Kor Basin; it can be due to more sympatric predator species and over-fishing activities in Caspian Basin. Being small spring, Moshkan has no predatory fish, and A. qanati and Species Location Sex L∞ (mm) K (year-1) T0 (year) Reference A.B. Dunajec River, Czechoslovakia U 20.1 0.15 --- Skora (1972) A.B. Turiec River, former Czechoslovakia U 15.6 0.28 --- Bastl et al. (1975) A.B. Radimna River, Romania U 14.4 0.30 --- Papadopol and Cristofor (1980) A.B. A.B. A.B. A.B. A.B. A.B. Dobra River, Croatia Bednja River, Croatia Middle Korana River, Croatia Lower Korana River, Croatia Sava River, Croatia Sava River, Croatia U U U U U U 20.5 15.5 15.1 17.7 11.5 12.0 0.16 0.33 0.28 0.19 0.59 0.59 –1.38 –0.42 –0.86 –1.47 –0.47 –0.14 Treer et al. (2000) Treer et al. (2000) Treer et al. (2000) Treer et al. (2000) Treer et al. (2000) Treer et al. (2006) A.E. A.E. Zarrin-Gol River, northern Iran Zarrin-Gol River, northern Iran M F 99.64 107.23 0.51 0.55 –0.715 –0.548 Patimar and Dowlati (2007) Patimar and Dowlati (2007) A.E. A.E. A.E. Qanat of Uzineh, northern Iran Qanat of Uzineh, northern Iran Qanat of Uzineh, northern Iran M F U 140.7 153.7 148.3 0.27 0.23 0.24 –0.92 –1.08 –1.04 Patimar et al. (2012) Patimar et al. (2012) Patimar et al. (2012) A.E. Kesselian Stream, Caspian Sea, Iran U 104.5 1.19 --- Seifali et al. (2012) A.N. A.N. A.N. A.E. Gharachai, Namk basin, Iran Jajrud, Namak basin, Iran Cheshme Ali, Kavir basin, Iran Tajan River, Caspian basin, Iran U U U U 122.43 112.66 120 123.01 0.27 0.54 0.29 0.29 –0.76 0.18 –1 –1 Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) Tabatabaei et al. (2014) A.Q. A.Q. Kor River basin, Iran Kor River basin, Iran F M 123.9 93 0.31 0.49 --- --- Present study Present study Table 5. Estimates of von Bertalanffy length-at-age growth parameters for populations of different Alburnoides species in the distribution area (Iran and European regions). A.B., A. bipunctatus; A.E., A. eichwaldii; A.N., A. namaki; A.Q, A. qanati;, F, female; M, male; U, unsexed. Locality Species Ø′ Reference Turiec ,Slovenian A. bipunctatus 4.22 Bastl et al. (1975) Radimna, Slovenian A. bipunctatus 4.13 Papadopol and Cristofor (1980) Croatian- Slovenian A. bipunctatus 4.17 Treer et al. (2000) Caspian Sea, Iran Alburnoides sp. 4.87 Saifali et al. (2012) Kor river, Iran A. qanati (F) 3.86 Present study Kor river, Iran A. qanati (M) 3.75 Present study Table 6. Phi prime (Ø′) values of different species of Alburnoides from Europe and Iran. 126 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2015) 3(2): 119-128 Oxynemacheilus persa are the only fish species inhabit in this stream. It also has been reported that the spirlin population reflects the changes in habitats (Jurajda et al., 1996); therefore, water dam construction can critically endanger this species (Lusk, 1995) which can be considered for all species of genus Alburnoides including A. qanati species (Kirchhofer, 1997; Lusk et al., 1998; Treer et al., 2006). Based on the available data, it can be concluded that many factors affect growth parameters of fish populations. The commonly proposed explanations include the effects of changes in environment conditions, (most notably temperature and food availability), density-dependent effects, eutrophication, habitat disruption and specific species characteristics. These factors can operate singly or in combination and have positive or negative effects on growth parameters. According to Ma et al. 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