Author(s): NA Nasir
Article publication date: 2006-03-01
Vol. 24 No. 1 (yearly), pp. 23-29.
143
Keywords
Fresh water fish, Cyprinidae, Barbus luteus, Distribution. Feeding, Food, length eight.
Abstract
This study was carried out over period of one year to investigate some aspects of the biology of Barbus luteus (Pisces: Cyprinidae) in the Al-Hammar marsh area of Iraq. The fish are most abundant between Feburary and June, followed by a steady decrease towards the end of the year. A mean monthly mortality rate of 35% per month was recorded. Total length and weight of 1002 fish collected ranged between 120-320mm (mean: 174mm) and 21-275gm (Mean: 79gm) respectively. Numerically, the samples were dominated by females. They accounted for about 52.7% of the total catch. The population of B. luteus was dominated by 2+ year-olds for both sexes and they matured at this age. The mathematical relationship between the weight and length of the fish was determined. The values of the exponent (b) showed that females are generally heavier at a given length than males. The food taken by the fish was studied and it was found that the fish is principally a surface phytoplankton feeder.