a study on some morphological characteristics of common kilka, clupeonella cultriventris, during final stage of gonadal development

a larger proportion of energy intake for reproduction and also low food availability maydecrease the growth rate of other organs during the late stage of the gonadal development. themain goal of this study is to examine the biological characteristics and organs growth pattern inclupeonella cultriventris during the late stages of gonad development. samples were collectedby capturing 300-350 kilka from a fishery area between sari and mahmod-abad, every 2-3weeks over october 2008 to april 2009. the length parameters such as fork length, stomachand intestine length and weight parameters such as fish weight, intestine weight and ovaryweight were measured. the results showed that the slope of regression between weight andlength for females increases at the beginning of sampling period, ovary was quit small, butgrew up fast by the beginning of the reproduction and constituted a large part of the femalebody. the stomach and intestine grew faster than fish length over the study period. a reductionin length-growth of females indicates that greater energy was allocated to gonadal developmentby the end of reproduction. however, the gastro-intestinal growth pattern did not correlate withfish length, but showed faster growth.