Length-weight relationships of nine common demersal Elasmobranch species from the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

Length-weight relationships were estimated for common demersal elasmobranch species in two different fishing regions - Northeastern Aegean Sea (NEAS) and North Eastern Levantine Sea (NELS) - in the Eastern Mediterranean. All individuals were collected using bottom trawl fishing vessels from September 2014 to April 2016. Nonlinear models were used and the values of parameter b of the length-weight relationship W = aL(b) ranged from 2.2931 to 3.4455 from NELS and 3.0519 to 3.2089 from NEAS. Notwithstanding that the total length measurements of Scyliorhinus canicula showed differences between NELS and NEAS, there were no significant differences according to the sampling periods and the depths in the study.