OTOLITH - BODY LENGTH RELATIONSHIP OF ABU MULLET (PLANILIZA ABU (HECKEL, 1843)) IN TIGRIS RIVER, SIRNAK, TURKEY

In this study, the relationships between standard length (SL) and otolith length (OL), and width (OW) were examined for abu mullet (Planiliza abu (Heckel, 1843)) from Guclukonak Location of Tigris River, Sirnak. The fish samples were collected monthly using nets between January and December 2015. Otolith samples for analysis were obtained from 299 specimens (221 female and 78 male). Standard length and otolith length measured to the nearest 1 mm and 1 mu m, respectively. Sex was identified macroscopically following the examination of gonads. The relationship between fish length (SL) and otolith length (OL) was as y=2.5294x +1.1675 (R-2=0.6629), between fish length (SL) and otolith width (OW) was as y=3.4709x +4.7652 (R-2=0.6398), between otolith length (OL) and otolith width (OW) was as y=0.4090x +0.6159 (R-2=0.5246). Analysis for the relation between right and left otolith did not reveal any significant differences (t-test, p>0.05).