Seasonal Changes in Condition Factor and Weight-Length Relationship of Invasive Carassius gibelio (Bloch, 1782) from Leszczynskie Lakeland, Poland

Abstract

Samples of invasive cyprinid fish, the Prussian carp (Carassius gibelio), were collected by fyke nets in Leszczynskie Lakeland (Poland) during the summer and autumn, 2010, and during the spring, 2011. All captured fish were females. For each fish, the total weight (W,g) and the standard length (L,cm) were measured and Fulton’s condition factor (KC=100 W/L3) was computed. Graphical investigation and the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test showed statistically significant location shift of the KC distribution from summer to autumn (upward) and from autumn to spring (downward). Relationship between total weight and standard length was described with the mean growth curve E(W∣L)=aLb. Seasonal parameters (a and b) were estimated with a nonlinear regression approach, that is, numerical optimization methods. Growth was allometric in summer and autumn and isometric in spring. The differences between summer and autumn growth curves and between autumn and spring growth curves were statistically significant. The seasonality exhibited by the condition factor and the growth curve may be due to different spawning, breeding, and feeding activity in the different seasons and to variable environmental conditions.