Length-length Relationship, Weight-Length Relationship, Sex Ratio and factor of Condition of Sardinella maderensis (Lowe, 1838) in South-Eastern Coastal waters of Benin

Abstract

Face to decreasing of high-value commercial fishes’ stocks particularly of small pelagic fish in the central part of FAO fishery area 34, the present study has been carried out. From November 2016 to June 2018, monthly 1041 specimens of Sardinella maderensis were collected from southeastern coastal water of Benin randomly. Standard and Total Length, and weight as well as, the sex data were collected.t-test, z-test and ANOVA one tail test were performed to determine whether there was a significant difference between data. With a ratio of 1:1.5 statistically different from 1:1 (p<0.001), female dominate S. maderensis population in Benin. Negative allometry both for the female (2.92) the male (2.88) and combined sexes (2.90) highly different from the consensus, “b=3” (p<0.001) is remarked. The relative condition factor computed from the allometry shows an average environmental condition for S. maderensis growth. Regarding the shared character of S. maderensis stock in CECAF’s central area, these results are important for the next stock assessment..