Population biology of spotted catfish (Arius maculatus) distributed in the lower areas of Hau river

Abstract

This study has been carried-out from March, 2019 to December, 2019 in the lower areas of Hau River, Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The study focused on the growth parameters and mortality rates of spotted catfish (Arius maculatus). Fish samples have been collected every two month and analyzed in laboratory in Can Tho University. The length frequency data of fish ranging from 8cm to 17.8cm standard length and weight from 9.9g to 95.92g were analyzed by FISAT II software. The results indicated that spotted catfish was a high correlation between length and weight in the regressive equation W=0.017L3.0183 with R2= 0.9223. The parameters of von Bertalanffy growth function fit to the length frequency data was 𝐿∞= 21cm; K= 1.07; t0=-0.14. The natural mortality (M= 1.26/ year) and fishing mortality (F= 0.5/ year) accounted for 71.6% and 28.4% of the total mortality (Z=1.76/ year)