Daily growth of young-of-the-year of the Baringo tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus baringoensis (Trewavas, 1983)

Abstract

Otolith microstructure analysis was used to validate microincrement deposition rate and to determine daily growth rates of young-of-the-year (YOY) Baringo tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus baringoensis. Microincrement formation was validated as daily by correlating the number of circuli on otoliths with the known age of cultured fish. For wild young-of-the-year fish collected from Lake Baringo, Kenya, in August and October 2007 length was positively correlated with the age of fish (total length (mm) = 0.1187 age (/day) + 1.1344 (r² = 0.97); standard length (mm) = 0.0964 age (/day) + 0.7082 (r² = 0.97)) and growth rate was subsequently estimated at 0.12 cm/day.

Key words:

• Otolith circuli
• Age
• Validation