Otolith biometry at Alburnus Mossulensis heckel, 1843 living in Keban Dam Lake

In this study, the relationships of otolith biometry with the length and weight of Alburnus mossulensis Heckel, 1843 population living in Keban Dam Lake (Elazığ) were investigated between November 2011 and December 2011. For this purpose, 64 female and 103 male individuals were used.It was found that A. mossulensis population distributed in age groups between I and VII. Sagittal otoliths were used in the study. The right sagittal otolith was used for evaluation of otolith biometrics due to be no significant differences (p>0.05) between right and left otoliths in terms of size (length, width and weight).The mean otolith lengths of females, males and all individuals were 1.53 mm, 1.55 mm and 1.54 mm respectively. The mean otolith width of females, males and all individuals were was found to be 1.19 mm. The mean otolith weight of females, males and all individuals was found to be 1.50 mg.According to the results of the correlation analysis, a positive middle level relationship was determined between otolith length-total length (r=0.44, r=0.54 and r=0.45), otolith width-total length (r=0.35) and otolith weight-total length (r=0.50), otolith length-fish weight (r=0.47), otolith width-fish weight (r=0.39) and otolith weight-fish weight (r=0.45) in the population.In addition, a very strong positive relationship was found between otolith length-age groups (r=0.93), otolith width-age groups (r=0.86) and otolith weight-age groups (r=0.90) in the population.Key words: Alburnus mossulensis, otolith length, otolith width, otolith weight, fish length, fish weight.