Allometric growth patterns of the Green terror (Aequidens rivulatus Günther, 1860) during early ontogeny

Early development and allometric growth pattern is an important feature during earlydevelopment of fishes. This research was conducted to study the allometric growthpatterns of the green terror (Aequidens rivulatus), a valuable aquarium species, duringearly development up to 1266 hours post hatching (Hph). Hence, its morphologicalchanges during its ontogeny were described. Morphometric parameters obtainedfrom 2D pictures of specimens using the software ImageJ and allometric growthpattern was calculated as a power function of total length using non-transformed data:Y=axb . Results revealed that during early development 24 after hatching, the allometricgrowth pattern of head, snout, eye diameter and tail regions were positive and theychanged to isometric pattern about 156-570 Hph, reflecting 24Tthe vital functionsimportance including swimming, respiration and sensory systems during this period.Results also showed that the inflexion points of most parts of body have beenoccurred along with exogenous feeding. Based on the finding of this study, earlydevelopment of this species can be divided into four stages including Eleutheroembryo(up to 120 Hph along with yolk sac absorption), Propterygio-larval (156Hph), Pterygio-larval (570 Hph) and Juvenile.

کلیدواژه ها:

Aquarium fish ، Growth ، Morphology ، Allometric