Otolith biometry of mirror carp (Cyprinis carpio L., 1758) living in Keban Dam Lake

In this study, the relationships of weight, total length and age with otolith biometry (weight, length and width) of total 120 fish (54 females and 66 males) belong to mirror carp (C. carpio L., 1758) population obtained from Keban Dam Lake between November 2016-December 2016 were examined. For this purpose, sagittal otoliths of fish were used. Although the difference between right and left otoliths in biometric measurements was statistically insignificant (P>0.05), both otoliths were used for evaluation. In order to determination of the ages of fishes, age rings in both right and left otoliths were read by two different readers. The ages of mirror carps used in this study ranged between 2-8 years. Mean lengths were 28.48 cm in the all population, 28.17 cm in the females and 28.73 cm in the males; mean weights were 374.44 g in the whole population, 360.19 g in the females and 386.10 g in the males. The difference of the total length and weight between the female and male fishes was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The mean otolith weight (mg) values (right otolith-left otolith) of the all population, the females and the males were (3.38-3.37), (3.29-3.29) and (3.45-3.44) respectively; the mean otolith length (mm) values were found to be (2.57-2.57), (2.56-2.54) and (2.58-2.59) respectively and the mean otolith width (mm) values were determined as (1.61-1,62), (1.60-1.60) and (1.62-1.63) respectively. The differences between right and left otolith data and between female-male otolith data were not statistically significant (P> 0.05). According to the regression analysis results, an intermediate or strong positive relationship between the total fish length-otolith weight, total fish length-otolith length, total fish length-otolith width, fish weight-otolith weight, fish weight-otolith length, fish weight-otolith width, fish age-otolith weight, fish age-otolith-length, fish age-otolith width was determined. An agreement that was more than 90% was found between right and left otoliths in term of the weight, length and width values.