Length-Weight relationship and morphological studies of the big eye shad, Ilisha filigera (Valenciennes, 1847) in Mumbai waters

Present study was conducted to investigate the length-weight relationship and morphological studies of Ilisha filigera based on 353 fish specimens of different size collected from Mumbai waters from October 2010 to April 2011. Length-weight relationship of 181 males and 136 females found a high degree of correlation for males, females and both the sexes combine. Pooled data for both the sexes gave the length-weight relationship of W = 0.002336 L3.345211 with a coefficient of determination (r2) value of 0.954042. The ‘b’ value for both the cases of males (3.110674) and females (3.42701) revealed allometric growth. Analysis of covariance indicated significant differences (P<0.01) between males and females. The comparison of morphometric characters showed a very high degree of correlation between them. Total length of the species observed in the present study ranged from 13.9 to 37.5 cm with standard deviation 26.09±4.34 cm.