Otolith Biometry - Fish Length Relationship in Fries's goby (Lesueurigobius friesii (Malm 1874)) from ？zmir Bay

In the study, the relationship between fish size and otolith measurements in the Fries's goby (Lesueurigobius friesii) were investigated. Fish specimens were collected by trawl operations from ？zmir Bay between September 2005 and August 2006. A total of 100 Lesueurigobius friesii specimens were used for the study. Their total lengths (TL) and weights were recorded by a fish ruler and a digital scale with an accuracy of 0.1 cm and 0.01 g respectively. After that the fish were dissected and their sagittal otoliths were removed. Otolith lengths and heights were measured with an Olympus SZ61 stereo microscope with a micrometric ocular. Otoliths were weighted by a digital scale with an accuracy of 0.0001 g. The specimens used in the analysis were ranged between 5.5 and 8.7 cm total length and from 14.8 to 56.4 g in total weight. The length–weight relationship equations were estimated as W=0.0927*L2.9431 (r=0.942). Otolith length (OL), otolith height (OH) and otolith weight (OW) of the species were ranged between 2.6–4.1 mm, 2.2–3.4 mm and 0.0049–0.0204 g, respectively. The total length–otolith length, total length–otolith height and otolith length–otolith height measurements showed significant linear relationships. The relations between the otolith weight–otolith length total length–otolith weight were found to be exponential