Correlations and interdependencies of the main morphological traits in 6 to 7.5-months-old pikeperch (Sander lucioperca), reared in recirculating aquaculture system

The pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) is one of the main freshwater fish species recently introduced in intensive aquaculture in Romania, with good perspective for next years. Monitoring of the growth dynamic of the pikeperch reared in controlled conditions has a high importance in fish farm management. The aim of this study is to test if there are linear correlations and functional dependencies between total length, standard length, maximum body depth and body weight in pikeperch fingerlings reared into recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Our results clearly revealed that any of the 4 measurements could be monitored in pikeperch fingerlings, to accurately evaluate the growth dynamic, the correlations among these being very high (between 0.970329 and 0.998856). The dependencies of the evaluated traits are very high, and with our equations detailed in the paper, 3 of measurements could be calculated based on pikeperch’s body weight