Morphometry, Length-Weight Relationship and Relative Condition Factor of Marine Catfish, Osteogeneiosus militaris (Linn., 1758) of Mumbai Waters

The meristic and morphometric characters as well as the length-weight relationship and condition factor of the marine cat fish, Osteogeneiosus militaris (Linn.,1758) off Mumbai waters was investigated. Based on the meristic characters, the fin formula can be written as; D_I,7, P_I,10-11, V₆, A_18-22, C_17-19. The morphometric characters of indicated high degree of correlation among the compared characters. The length-weight relationship of the species is given as, W = 0.000006 L^3.05 for females, W = 0.000008 L^3.01 for males and W = 0.000007 L^3.03 for pooled sexes which implies that the species found off Mumbai waters has isometric growth. The co-efficient of co-rrelation between length and weight was found to be very high (r = 0.981, 0.962 and 0.977) for females, males and sexes pooled, respectively. The condition factor was found to be higher for females than those of the males. This indicates that females are in better condition compared to males. The seasonal variation observed in the condition factor for both the sexes could be related to reproductive cycle and feeding.