Life-history traits of Indian river shad Gudusia chapra (Hamilton, 1822) in the Mahananda River (tributary of the Ganges River) of northwestern Bangladesh

Abstract

For the first time, we describe the life-history traits including growth pattern, condition factors including (relative weight, WR), form factor (a3.0), size at sexual maturity (Lm), and natural mortality (Mw) of Gudusia chapra in the Mahananda River, Bangladesh. Fishing gears, including gill (fash jal) and push nets (thela jal), were used for sampling during August 2016 to July 2017. Body lengths and weight (BW) of each individual were measured. A total of 226 individuals ranging from 6.20- 15.10 cm total length (TL) and 2.44-26.10 g BW were collected. On the basis of b value, the growth pattern of G. chapra was negative allometric (b<3.0). KF was the best for assessing the overall health of this species. WR was not significantly different from 100 indicating balance population. Also, a3.0 was 0.0062, which indicates that the fish was fusiform in shape. Moreover, Lm and Mw were 9.13 cm TL and 1.14 year-1 , respectively. These results should benefit shad management.

Keywords

• gudusia chapra
• condition factor
• size at first sexual maturity
• natural mortality
• mahananda river