Age and Growth of Hedinichthys yarkandensis (Day, 1877) in the Hotan River

Abstract

Hedinichthys yarkandensis (Day, 1877) has been highlighted in research and evaluated as a class II key protected aquatic wildlife in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. To enhance the study of fish resources in the Hotan River, further germplasm conservation of fishery resources specific to the Tarim River Basin should be carried out, and the development of the aquatic seed industry should be promoted. A total of 1275 H. yarkandensis individuals were collected from 2020–2021. Fish ecological methods were used to explore the population ecological characteristics and ecological habits of H. yarkandensis. We found that the age of H. yarkandensis ranged from one to seven based on lapillus otoliths, and two-plus individuals accounted for more. The age structure composition reveals stable genetic performance and good population fecundity. The fitting correlations of standard length and body weight reveal that H. yarkandensis in the Hotan River is a uniformly growing fish. The ratio of females to males is 0.87:1. The Fulton condition index of males was slightly higher than that of females due to individual miniaturization. The comparative study found that the growth parameters of the Hotan River population (L∞ = 302.772, W∞ = 310.8450, t0 = −0.4608) were higher than those of the other groups. The feeding demand of H. yarkandensis in the Hotan River was guaranteed because the effect of human activities was small in the watershed area and the watershed ecosystem was more stable, which resulted in stable germplasm resources in the Hotan River population.