Age, Growth and Condition of Capoeta capoeta angorae Hanko 1924 from the Upper Water Systems of the River Ceyhan, Turkey

Authors: AHMET ALP, CEMİL KARA, H. MURAT BÜYÜKÇAPAR, ORHAN BÜLBÜL

Abstract: The age, growth and condition factors were described for Capoeta capoeta angorae from the upper parts of the River Ceyhan from May 2000 to February 2001 and the differences in length in the same age group between streams and reservoirs populations were compared. A total of 629 C. c. angorae were examined and the ratio of males to females was estimated as 1.25:1.00. Eleven age groups were recorded from 0+ to 10+ years old and two- and three-year-old fish dominated the sample. The fork lengths (FLs) ranged from 3.1 to 41.5 cm and the majority of the samples were composed of 14.0 and 16.0 cm FL groups. The length-weight relationships were described as W = 0.0242 x FL^{2.8067} (r = 0.9776) for males and W = 0.0348 x FL^{2.6811} (r = 0.9841) for females. Growth was expressed in length and the von Bertalanffy growth parameters were estimated as L\infity =47.3 cm, K = 0.133, t_{0} = -0.761 for males and L\infity = 62.3 cm, K = 0.101, t_{0} = -0.598 for females. Growth performance index were also estimated as \varphi’ = 5.693 for males and \varphi’ = 5.970 for females. The differences in length in the same age groups between stream and reservoir populations were statistically significant (P < 0.05) and the FLs of reservoir populations were higher than those of the streams. The condition factors ranged from 0.687 to 2.615 with a mean value of 1.413 and the differences in condition between males and females were significant in the first and second age groups, while they were not significant at the other ages.

Keywords: Capoeta capoeta angorae, river Ceyhan, age, growth, condition factor

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