International Journal of Aquatic Biology (2015) 3(3): 172-176 

ISSN: 2322-5270; P-ISSN: 2383-0956

Journal homepage: www.NPAJournals.com 
© 2015 NPAJournals. All rights reserved 

 Original Article 

Length-weight relationship and condition factor of seven fish species of Totkabon River 

(southern Caspian Sea basin), Guilan, Iran 

 
Mazaher Zamani Faradonbeh1, Soheil Eagderi*1, Fariborz Ghojoghi2 

 
1Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. 

2Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr branch. 

 
Article history: 
Received 15 February 2015 

Accepted 24 April 2015 

Available online 2 5 June 2015 

 
Keywords:  
River 

Freshwater fishes 

LWRs 

Allometry 

Condition factor 

Abstract: Length-weight relationship and condition factor were investigated in seven fish species, 
including Barbus cyri, Capoeta gracilis, Alburnoides eichwaldi, Acanthalbarnus microlepis, Ponticola 

cyrius, Cobitis keyvani and Oxynemacheilus bergianus from Totkabon River. A total of 570 specimens 

ranging from 25.90 to 146.97 mm in total length and 0.1 to 260.3 g in total weight were collected. 

Based on the results, growth coefficient values “b” ranged from 2.429 (A. microlpis) to 3.71 

(C. keyvani). All length-weight relationships were significant (P<0.05), with r2 greater than 0.856. The 

four species viz. A. microlepis, C. gracilis, P. cyrius and C. keyvani showed allometric (b<3<b) and 

three species viz. B. cyri, A. eichwaldi and O. bergianus isometric (b = 3) growth patterns. Condition 

factor ranged from 0.544 (O. bergianus) to 0.940 (P. cyrius). All linear regressions were highly 

significant (P<0.05). The result of this study may be useful for biologists and fishery managers. 
 

Introduction 

Length-weight relationships (LWRs) data of fishes 

are useful tools for biologists (Martin-Smith, 1996) 

in fishery assessment and proper management of fish 

population. LWR permits assessment of the biomass 

from length observations and conversion of growth-

in-length equations to growth-in-weight (Gurkan 

and Taskavak, 2007) and also is applied to assess 

well-being of individuals and to compare life 

histories of separated populations of the same 

species in different regions (Martin-Smith, 1996; Ak 

et al., 2009). In addition, LWRs is used to obtain 

information about the condition of fishes to 

determine whether somatic growth is isometric or 

allometric (Gurkan and Taskavak, 2007; Ujjania et 

al., 2012). 

Condition factor (K) is an important biological 
parameter, which indicates the suitability of a 

specific water body for growth of fish and an index 

of species average size (Alam et al., 2014). The 

                                                           
* Corresponding author: Soheil Eagderi 

E-mail address: soheil.eagderi@ut.ac.ir 

values of this factor depend on physiological features 

of fish especially maturity, spawning, life cycle, 

environmental factors and food availability in a 

water body (Ujjania et al., 2012; Dan-Kishiya, 

2013). 

The present study aimed to find out the present status 

of length-weight relationship and condition factor of 

seven fish species viz. Barbus cyri, Capoeta gracilis, 
Alburnoides eichwaldi, Acanthalbarnus microlepis, 
Ponticola cyrius, Cobitis keyvani and 
Oxynemacheilus bergianus inhabiting Totkabon 
River, a tributary of Sefidrud River in the Caspian 

Sea basin (Guilan Province, North of Iran). Findings 

of this work will help better understanding of their 

biology and play an important role for management 

of these species in the protection program of their 

natural stock. 

 

Materials and methods 

Totkabon River (36°53'48"N, 49°30'19"E) is a 



173 
 

Zamani Faradonbeh et al/ LWRs and condition factor of seven fish species of Totkabon River 

shallow stream with the elevation of 129-208 meters 

above sea level and surrounded by a dense forest. 

The samplings were conducted during the daytime in 

autumn 2013 by a backpack electrofishing (Samus 

Mp750, 45 cm diameter, aluminum ring anode). A 

total of 570 fish specimens belonging to seven 

species were collected (Table 1). 

The captured fish specimens were anesthetized in 

1% clove oil solution at the field and then weighted 

by a digital balance and photographed by a digital 

camera (Canon, 510 IS, 12 MP). Finally, they were 

returned to the river after identification, and 

unidentified specimens were fixed in 10% formalin 

and transferred to the laboratory for identification 

based on Abdoli (2000) and Coad (2015). A scale 

was put beside the photographed fishes for extracting 

morphometric measurements using ImageJ software 

(version: 1.47). For each individual, morphometric 

data, including Total Length (TL), Fork Length (FL) 

and Standard Length (SL) was measured from its 

pictures to the nearest 0.01 mm. The Body Weight 

(BW) of the specimens were measured using an 

electronic balance to the nearest 0.01 g after drying 

by a clean towel. 

The length-weight relationship was determined by 

the equation of W= 𝛼Lb (Le Cren, 1951; Kahraman 
et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2012), where W is total 
weight (expressed in g), L is total length (expressed 
in cm), 𝛼 is intercept i.e. coefficient related to the 

body, and b is slope. The growth pattern is isometric 
when the value of b = 3 and allometric when 
significantly different from 3 (Alam et al., 2014). 

The logarithm transformation of the equation was 

expressed as: Log W= 𝛼 + b LogL (Kahraman et al., 
2014; Wang et al., 2012) to estimate the parameters 

𝛼 and b. The degree of correlation between the 
variables was computed by the determination 

coefficient “r2”. The significance level of r2 was 
estimated by ANOVA. The student’s t-test (ts) was 

used to determine whether the parameter b is 
significantly different from the expected or 

theoretical value of 3 (i.e. b = 3, P<0.05). 
The condition factor (K) was estimated according to 
Le Cren (1951) and Froese (2006) using K =100 
W/L3, where, K is condition factor, W is weight of 
fish (gr) and L is length (Total, Fork and Standard) 
of fish (cm). Here, factor 100 is used to bring K close 
unity. In the present study, we calculated condition 

factor (K) for all measured length groups, i.e. TL, FL 
and SL.  

All the statistical analyses were considered at 

significance level of 5%. The Statistical Package 

SPSS (version 22) and Microsoft Office Excel 

software (version 2013) were used to analysis data. 

 

Results and discussion 

The ranges of the length and weight parameters, 

estimated LWR parameters, coefficients of the 

correlation of seven studied fish species are 

presented in Table 1. The specimens ranged from 

25.90 mm for C. gracilis to 146.97 mm for B. cyri in 
total length and 0.1 to 260.3 g in total weight for 

C. gracilis and B. cyri, respectively. All relationships 
were highly significant (P<0.05) with r2 values 

Species n 
Total length (mm) Body weight (gr) Growth coefficient  

Min Max Mean ± SE Min Max Mean ± SE 𝛼 b r2 ts tg 

B. cyri 70 50.70 146.97 93.47±2.59 1.1 26.30 7.95±0.67 0.0006 3.0078 0.927 0.02 I 

C. gracilis 240 25.90 145.90 74.54±1.27 0.10 16.48 4.45±0.20 0.000006 3.116 0.902 0.574 +A 

A. eichwaldi 62 48.764 101.37 74.24±1.73 1.00 8.70 4.02±0.28 0.000006 3.056 0.933 0.142 I 
A. microlepis 22 30.92 83.26 50.58±2.89 0.30 2.88 1.04±0.17 0.0000005 2.429 0.856 -1.05 -A 

P. cyrius 46 49.18 110.32 81.31±2.08 0.70 10.59 5.54±0.44 0.00006 3.214 0.861 0.417 +A 

C. keyvani 15 40.67 65.97 53.74±2.04 0.30 1.9 1.08±0.14 0.0000004 3.71 0.964 0.686 +A 

O. bergianus 15 40.67 75.17 63.72±0.15 0.47 2.24 1.42±0.15 0.000007 2.98 0.93 0.023 I 

n: Sample size, Min: minimum, Max: maximum, mm: millimeter, gr: gram, 𝛼: intercept, b: slope, r2: correlation 
coefficient, SE: standard error of the slope, t: students t-test, tg: Types of growth, I: isometric growth, +A: 

positive Allometric growth, -A: negative Allometric growth. 

Table 1. Summary of length-weight relationships for seven fish species from Totkabon River. 



174 
 

International Journal of Aquatic Biology (2015) 3(3): 172-176 

greater than 0.90 in five species and r2 = 0.80-0.90 in 
two others (Table 1).  

The values of b of the length-weight equations 
among studied species ranged 2.429 for 

A. microlepis to 3.71 for C. keyvani. The b values of 
other species were obtained 3.116 for C. gracilis, 
3.056 for A. eichwaldi, 2.429 for A. microlpis, 3.214 
for P. cyrius and 2.98 for O. bergianus. The 
parameter “b” of all studied species was within the 
expected range of 2.5-3.5 except for A. microlepis 
and C. keyvani with b values of 2.429 and 3.71, 
respectively. 

The results of student’s t-test showed that b value of 
A. microlepis (b = 2.429; t-test: t = -1.05; P<0.05) 
was significantly lower than the theoretical value of 

3 indicating a negative allometric growth, whereas 

the results of student t-test for C. gracilis, P. cyrius 
and C. keyvani were significantly higher (b = 3.116-
3.214; t-test: t = 0.417-0.686; P<0.05) indicating a 

positive allometric growth. Barbus cyri, A. eichwaldi 
and O. bergianus showed an isometric growth 
pattern (b = 2.98-3.056; t-test: t = 0.020-0.142; 
P>0.05), with no significant difference from the 

theoretical value of 3 (Table 2). 

Tahmasebi et al. (2014) reported LWRs of B. cyri 
from Sefidrood River (Caspian basin) with b value 
of 2.5134, showing a negative allometric growth. 

Boron et al. (2008) observed that parameter b in 
standard length-weight equation for specimens of the 

spined loach, Cobitis taenia (Linnaeus, 1758), for 
males and females are 3.83779 and 3.1683, 

respectively, indicating allometric growth in both 

sexes, though more in males than females (Boron et 

al., 2008). The b value of O. bergianus in the Kordan 
River was 2.83 and close to that of the Totkabon 

(Tabatabae et al., 2015). For other studied species, 

no LWRs data were available from Iranian inland 

waters to compare with the results of the present 

study.  

The result showed that the condition factor values 

(K, TL-K) range between 0.544-0.94, with minimum 
value for O. bergianus (K = 0.544 ± 0.016) and 
maximum value for P. ciryus (K = 0.94 ± 0.0045) 
(Table 2). The maximum value of the condition 

factor was observed based on the TL group in 

P. cyrius (0.94), based on the FL group in 
A. eichwaldi (1.203) and based on the SL group in 
A. eichwaldi (1.608) (Table 2). T-test analysis 
showed that K values calculated based on the three 
length groups i.e. Total and Fork and standard 

lengths, in the studied species are significantly 

different (P>0.05). 

The condition factor is an index reflecting interaction 

between biotic and abiotic factors in the 

physiological conditions of fishes. Therefore, the 

condition factor may vary among fish species in 

different locations (Blackwell et al., 2000). 

Condition factor is based on the hypothesis that 

heavier fishes of a given length are in better 

condition. This factor is also used as an index of 

growth and feeding intensity (Seher and Suleyman, 

2012). Condition factors of ≥1 indicate a good level 

of feeding and proper environmental condition 

(Ujjania et al., 2012). Based on the results, it was <1 

Family Species 

Condition Factor 

Total Length Fork length Standard Length 

K SD K SD K SD 

Cyprinidae B. cyri 0.847 0.153 1.08 0.207 1.41 0.259 

 C. gracilis 0.911 0.268 1.203 0.340 1.608 0.454 
 A. eichwaldi 0.890 0.137 1.217 0.189 1.642 0.252 
 A. microlepis 0.73 0.21 1.007 0.26 1.323 0.344 
Gobiidae P. cyrius 0.94 0.207 - - 1.55 0.339 

Cobitidae C. keyvani 0.632 0.093 - - 0.944 0.149 

Nemachilidae O. bergianus 0.544 0.070 0.63 0.093 0.83 0.167 

K = Condition Factor coefficient and SD= standard Deviation of Condition Factor coefficient. 

Table 2. Correlation of standard body length with body weight of studied fish from Totkabon River at different length groups. 



175 
 

Zamani Faradonbeh et al/ LWRs and condition factor of seven fish species of Totkabon River 

for O. bergianus and C. keyvani showing no proper 
environmental conditions of habitat for these species 

in Totkabon River. Whereas, K values of the rest of 
species were >1 showing perfect condition of this 

river for them. 

LWR parameters (𝛼 and b) and the “K” value of the 
fish have been reported to be affected by many 

factors such as feeding intensity, availability of food, 

fish size, age, sex, season, stage of maturation, 

fullness of the gut, degree of muscular development, 

the amount of reserved fat and life history (Bagenal 

and Tesch, 1978; Ujjania et al., 2012; Gupta and 

Banerjee, 2015). None of the above mentioned 

effective factors on LWR and K in the studied fishes 
have been considered in the present study. Therefore, 

for using the results of this study, it should be borne 

in mind that the samples were taken seasonally and 

the number of fish examined was limited. 

Finally, the length-weight relationships and 

condition factor presented here will provide useful 

information for fisheries management and fish 

population dynamic studies. To the best of our 

knowledge, LWR and K of these fishes were 
presented in Totkabon River for the first time. 

Therefore, the results of the present study can serve 

as baseline data for these species and for 

comparisons with future studies. 

 

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