Poultry, Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences
Open Access

Abstract

Age and Growth of Commercially Exploited Fish Species, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Tributary of the Ganga River, India

Neeti Mishra* and Amitabh Chandra Dwivedi

<p>Studies were undertaken during the period February 2019 to 2020 January from the lower  stretch of the Tons River  at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India.  During the present work, 683 fish specimens of Nile Tilapia, <em>Oreochromis niloticus </em>(336 males and 347 females) were studied for estimation of  age composition, age and growth increment. An over-all representation of age, growth increment and age composition of <em>O. niloticus </em>has been obtained by the  study of its key scales. The age composition of <em>O. niloticus </em>varied from 0+ to 7+ age groups. The maximum growth  increment was recorded  during first year of life cycle and showing a gradual decrease in growth as the  fish got older. The minimum growth increment  was recorded during  the seven year of the life cycle.  On the basis of pooled  sampled specimen in the length  ranges from 83 to 463 mm showed that the fish attained  the mean length 159 mm in 1+, 237 mm in 2+, 309 mm in 3+, 357 mm in 4+, 394 mm in 5+, 429 mm in 6+ and 455 mm in 7+ age groups. The growth increments 
  in <em>O. niloticus </em>was observed as 159 mm, 78 mm, 72 mm, 48 mm, 37 mm, 35  mm and 26 mm for 1+ to 7+ age groups, respectively. The slow growth increment  observed after first year may be attributed to the maturity  attained within first  year of life. It is well known that the growth potential is used for the gonad  development. The growth percentage varied from age to age in the male, female and pooled samples. </p>

Published Date: 2021-08-05; Received Date: 2021-07-15