Length-Weight Relationships and Abundance Distribution of Triglidae Species Caught by Beam-trawl in The Sea of Marmara

In this study, length–weight relationships and the catch per unit effort-relative abundance (CPUE kg/h, N/h) of the three-gurnard species Chelidonichthys lucerna (Linnaeus, 1758), Lepidotrigla cavillone (Lacepède, 1801), Eutrigla gurnardus (Linnaeus, 1758) were determined according to season, area and depth in the Sea of Marmara. Samples were obtained by beam trawl monthly between October 2011-July 2014. Total of 229 station were sampled. Totally six fishing area distributed as 1. area: Erdek, 2. area: Tekirda？, 3. area: Marmara Island, 4. area: Kap？da？, 5. area: Yalova and 6. area: Silivri. The parameter b for 3 triglidae species ranged from 2.66 to 2.85. The exponent b typically indicated C. lucerna and L. cavillone negative allometric growth, E.gurnardus isometric growth. The relative abundance of all species caught by beam trawl, bony fishes and triglidae species were determined as 63.6 kg/h, 4.7 kg/h and 0.422 kg/h (9%), respectively. The highest abundance (CPUE) in triglidae family was determined as 0.305 kg/h (2.5 N/h) in C. lucerna species and followed by L. cavillone 0.066 kg/h (1.9 N/h and E. gurnardus 0.051 kg/h (0.96 N/h) species. According to the seasons, the highest abundance of C. lucerna and L. cavillone species was found in the summer, spring for E. gurnardus species. According to the region, the highest abundance was found in Tekirda？ for C. lucerna species, Kap？da？ Peninsula for L. cavillone species and Marmara Island for E. gurnardus species. According to the depth, the abundance (CPUE) of the gurnard species has changed. It was found that C. lucerna and L. cavillone were more abundant at depths of 50-100 m, deeper than 100 m for E. gurnardus