Comparison of Otolith Mass Asymmetry in Two Different Solea solea Populations in Mediterranean Sea

In general, water pollution can be called as a kind of pollution resulting from natural and human activities on water resources such as oceans, seas, rivers, lakes and ground waters. Fish species are directly and indirectly adversely affected by water pollution. Like other living things in the aquatic system, fish are confronted with different types of stresses from different pollutants such as pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and heavy metals in their habitats. Otolith mass asymmetry may reflect some developmental disorders of fish caused by environmental stress. Especially high-level otolith mass asymmetry can adversely affect fish life, so the determination of the asymmetry is very important for each species. The aim of the present study to compare the otolith mass asymmetry of Solea solea from Mersin and ？skenderun populations. A total of 100 fish with 17.5-25.0cm total length and 36.4-126.6g weight were collected from the Mediterranean Sea. The asymmetry was calculated considering the difference between blind and eye sides otolith masses. In the present study, the asymmetry values were found within -0.25483 and +0.41220 in the populations. The otolith mass asymmetry and absolute otolith mass asymmetry of S. solea in the Mersin and ？skenderun populations are not related to the total lengt