Growth, mortality and length-weight relationship of the Bombay duck Harpadon nehereus (Ham. 1822) from North-eastern tip of the Bay of Bengal

The present study was conducted to investigate the growth parameters, length-weight relationshipand diverse mortality rates of Bombay duck Harpadon nehereus, from North-eastern tip of the Bay of Bengal.The length weight data were collected from January to December 2017 where a total number of 2054individuals of both sex were analyzed. The von Bertalanffy growth parameters, the asymptotic length L?(cm), the growth constant K (year-1) and t0 were estimated as 38.50, 0.88, and -0.0181 years respectively.The growth performance index (Ø?) was found to be 3.115. The total length and body weight (L-W)relationship was found as W=0.004 L3.021, indicating that the growth rate showed a positive allometricpattern (b=3.021>3). The annual fishing morality rate (F) was 1.89, whereas the natural mortality rate (M)was 1.51. The obtained value of the exploitation rate (E= 0.56) indicated that the said population was inover-exploited condition.