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Length-weight relationship for the dragonfish, Stichopus cf. monotuberculatus (Holothuroidea)4.36 MB
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Length-weight relationship for the dragonfish, Stichopus cf. monotuberculatus (Holothuroidea)
Fisheries Research, Vol.268, 106851
12/2023
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Length-weight relationships are commonly used to convert length measurements to body weights for data from population surveys, to generate estimates of biomass for stock assessment. These morphometric relationships assess whether increases in body weight are proportional to unit increases in length, providing an insight into growth. Few biological data are available for the nocturnally active sea cucumber, Stichopus cf. monotuberculatus, which is harvested throughout the Indo-Pacific region. This study assessed the morphometric relationships between body length and weight, and basal area and weight for three broad colour variants of S. cf. monotuberculatus at two reefs on the Southern Great Barrier Reef. Preparation of ossicles from the external tissues of the animals validated the species identification. All morphometric relationships were significant and revealed negative allometric growth (exponent, b, range = 2.17–2.42), as found in other holothuroids. Despite some deviance in length-weight relationships between colour types, the largely overlapping data points suggest that a single equation should be appropriate for weight estimation of S. cf. monotuberculatus. Length measurements alone were sufficient for estimating weight (r2 = 0.80) because the addition of width measurements made no tangible improvement to the model fit. The findings indicate that this sea cucumber maintains a relatively consistent shape, with limited contraction of the body. These results will be useful for estimations of weight in future fishery surveys to estimate stock biomass and catch volumes.
Details
- Title
- Length-weight relationship for the dragonfish, Stichopus cf. monotuberculatus (Holothuroidea)
- Creators
- Benjamin CT Gray - Southern Cross UniversityMaria Byrne - University of SydneyMatthew Clements - University of SydneyShawna A Foo - University of SydneySteven W Purcell - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Fisheries Research, Vol.268, 106851
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Grant note
- This work was partially funded by a student research grant from Southern Cross University and was supported by the Australian Research Council, Grant nos. DE220100555 (SAF) and DP150102771 (MB).
- Identifiers
- 991013139113102368
- Copyright
- © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; National Marine Science Centre
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article