Zoological Studies

Growth Study of the Pool Barb Puntius sophore (Cyprinidae: Barbinae) through Multi-Model Inferences

Ferdous Ahamed, Zoarder Faruque Ahmed, Md. Yeamin Hossain, and Jun Ohtomi (2012) The pool barb Puntius sophore (Hamilton 1822), is a freshwater to brackish-water cyprinid widely distributed in Asia, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and China.  The growth pattern and longevity of P. sophore were studied in the Old Brahmaputra River, Bangladesh, using time series of the length-frequency distributions through multi-model inferences in Jan.-Dec. 2009.  Both males and females were recruited in May, with respective modal sizes of 32 and 36 mm standard length.  Growth was best described by the von Bertalanffy equation as L_t ≡ 63.90[1-exp{-0.156 (t + 3.418)}] for males and L_t ≡ 74.17[1-exp{-0.141 (t + 3.839)}] for females.  Females grew faster and reached a larger size at the same age than males.  The longevity of this species was estimated to be ~15 months for both sexes.  The relationship between the standard length and body weight indicated isometric growth in both sexes.