Length-Weight Relationships of Twenty-Nine Native Fish Species from Hongshui River, Southern China

Abstract

Twenty-nine native freshwater fish species belonging to the four orders and eight families were collected from the Hongshui River, which belongs to the upper reaches of the Pearl River, to analyze their length-weight relationships (LWRs). Twenty-nine freshwater native fish were sourced using cages (0.2 m in height, 0.25 m in width, and 8 m in length, with a mesh size of 5 mm) and triple gillnets (20–40 m long, 1–3 m high, and mesh size, 2−3 cm) between December 2021 and July 2022. For each freshwater fish, the total length (TL) and weight were measured to the nearest 1.0 mm and 0.1 g. All LWR parameters of the twenty-nine species were statistically significant $\left(P<0.001\right)$ . The length-weight relationships for the nine species were new to the FishBase and new maximum lengths were recorded for the twenty species. The LWR values provided for the first time will help to validate the accuracy and predictability of the Bayesian models for estimating the species-specific growth parameters of the data-poor species.