Relationships Between Fish Length and Otolith Dimensions of Redcoat, Sargocentron rubrum (Forsskal, 1775) in the Southeastern Mediterranean Sea, Turkey

In the present study, sampling was monthly collected from commercial fishing longline boats operating in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea (Arsuz coast) during September 2017-April 2018 and the relationship between fish length and otolith dimensions (length, width and weight) of 151 redcoat samples were examined. Right otolith pairs were used for calculations since there were no statistical differences between left and right otoliths (P>0.05). Total fish lengths of all samples ranged from between 11.4-21.0 cm. Otolith lengths and otolith widths were calculated between 0.35-0.86 cm and 0.26-0.56 cm for all samples. Otolith weights were determined between 0.010-0.059 g. Total fish length-otolith length, total fish length-otolith width and total fish length-otolith weight relationships were determined as OL= 0.0512TL+0.186 (r2=0.865), OWi= 0.0255TL+0.0021 (r2=0.825) and OW= 0.00002TL2.678 (r2=0.936) on the total of 151 specimens, respectively. Linear relationships between total fish length-otolith length and total fish length-otolith width were found in all fish. The results of study will have new contributions to the field and useful to fisheries management.