Scale and opercular length and age relationship in Capoeta damascina from Beheshtabad River

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the presence or absence of a linear correlationbetween scales and opercula lengths (mm) with age (years). For this purpose, 130specimens (88 males and 42 females) were caught from Beheshtabad River ofChaharmahal-va-Bakhtiari Province. Samples were fixed in 10% formalin,transported to the laboratory and biometric characteristics were measured. Thecorrelation between scales length with age for males and females were r2 = 0.52 andr2 =0.51, respectively, which indicates a weak correlation. This value for the wholepopulation was r2 = 0.70. The relationship between opercula showed a significantcorrelation with age, so that the relationship for males, females and the wholepopulation was r2 = 0.80, r2 = 0.92 and r2 = 0.93, respectively, which was statisticallysignificant. According to this results, it seems that investigation of the relationshipbetween age and length of opercula is a better method in biological studies.

Keywords:

Age , Cyprinidae , opercule