comparison of some biological factors of boleophthalmus dussumieri in hormozgan and bushehr provinces

a study was conducted to determine some biological characteristics of a mudskipper (boleophthalmus dussumieri) such as length, weight frequencies, condition factor and growth parameters of von bertallanfy in the provinces neighboring to the persian gulf, i.e. bushehr and hormozgan, from january 2007 to april 2008.the sampling were carried out using a hand net as well as bare hands. 333 specimens were collected in the provinces (164 from hormozgan, 169 from bushehr). the largest male and female samples were caught with the 280 and 283.4 mm from bushehr province, respectively. there was no significant differences in sex ratios of the two populations (p>0.05). in both sexes, length frequencies of specimens from bushehr had higher average values than those from hormozgan. in both fish populations, the female’s condition factor was higher than the male’s condition factor, although the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). the age data, derived from radial pectoral fin. five age groups were recognized for the bushehr mudskippers. the most abundant ages were 1+ years. the age data were used to estimate the growth parameters of the von bertalanffy equation: lt=301.9}1- exp [-0.41(t-2.02)]} for both sexes in bushehr province. length and weight relationships between the two populations and the regression slope (b), which was very close to 3.00, indicated that in both provinces, the mudskippers have isometric growth. the relative gut length of 1.699 indicates that both populations are herbivore in their feeding habits.