Length-weight relation and relative condition factor of six deep-sea fishes from the south-eastern Arabian Sea

The present study estimates the length-weight relationships of six deep-sea finfishes belonging to six families and four different orders. Of the six species studied, first-time information is provided for three species: Polyipnus indicus, Antigonia indica and Champsodon vorax. The samples were collected from the south-eastern Arabian Sea by deep-sea trawlers landing at Sakthikulangara Fisheries Harbour, Kollam, Kerala, India. The b value ranged from 2.14 to 3.46, and r 2 values ranged from 0.903 to 0.968. Four species (Bathyclupea hoskynii, Synagrops japonicus, C. vorax and P. indicus) exhibited negative allometric growth, and two species (Eridacnis radcliffei and A. indica) exhibited positive allometric growth. The b values obtained from the present study were compared with the Bayesian model in Fish Base. Relative condition factor estimates showed lower ranges for E. radcliffe and S. japonicus, indicating that some individuals had a suboptimal status of K>1.