The why and how of determining length-weight relationships of fish from preserved museum specimens

The rationale and a strategy for the estimation of length-weight relationships (LWR) using preserved specimens of less common fish species in museums is presented, along with preliminary results pertaining to 56 specimens and 31 species of fish from the Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia, the Marine Biological Specimen Museum of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao, China, and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. These results are discussed in the context of the effects of seasonality (in fresh specimens) and preservation (in museum specimens) on the estimation of LWR parameters.