Population Structure Analysis of Loach Barbatula nuda in Eastern Liaoning Province
DUAN Youjian1,2, LUO Xiaonian1,2, KANG Yi1, LI Jiao1, WU Chen1, ZHANG Zhiming3, SUN Shuhao4
1. School of Fisheries and Life Science, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian 116023, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Fish Applied Biology and Aquaculture in North China, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116023, China; 3. Hubei Engineering Research Center of Hydroecology Protection and Restoration, Key Laboratory of Ecological Impacts of Hydraulic-Projects and Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystem, Ministry of Water Resources,Institute of Hydroecology, Ministry of Water Resources and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430079, China; 4. Dandong Fisheries Development Service Center, Dandong 118017, China
Abstract：In order to explore the population structure of loach Barbatula nuda in eastern Liaoning, the total length, body weight, age and first maturity performance were investigated in 161 samples collected from the tributaries of Yalu River and the upper reaches of Taizi River from 2018 to 2019 by a 1.5 cm mesh size trap to probe the population structure with vertebrae as the identification material. The results showed that the females had total length from 62 mm to 124 mm, and body weight from 1.7 g to 13.6 g, and that the males had body length from 71 mm to 130 mm, and the body weight from 2.1 g to 14.6 g, with age composition of 1—3 a and ratio of male to female of 0.916∶1. The estimation results of total length (TL) 50% method showed that the female was first sexual maturity at total length of 79.3 mm, and the male was first sexual maturity at total length of 98.9 mm, corresponding to the first sexual maturity age of 0.69 a and 1.19 a, respectively. In conclusion, B. nuda is a fish with small size, simple age composition and early sexual maturity, and the ecological strategy of the population is an r selection type. Overfishing will lead to deficiency in the population recovery of B. nuda and the decline of population resources, although the population recovery of this fish is fast when suffering from exploitation. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen fishery management measures, such as setting up the minimum fishing specifications, domestication, breeding and releasing activities for conservation.
2024, Vol. 43 
