Acta Aquatica Turcica, vol.15, no.4, pp.507-516, 2019 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
In this study, otolith shape indices and relationships between otolith shape and otolith length of the bluefish Pomatomussaltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766), which was sampled from the Samsun offshore of the Black Sea were investigated. A total of 166samples (94♀ and 72♂) were taken from commercial fishermen in two different fishing seasons (October-December 2014and January 2018). Sagittal otoliths of each sample were removed and six different shape index (form factor, roundness,circularity, rectangularity, ellipticity and aspect ratio) were used in analyses. The linear model is preferred for calculating therelationships between otolith shape properties and otolith length. Paired t-test, Wilcoxon test, Independent t test and MannWhitney U test were used for statistical analysis. The minimum and maximum total lengths and weights of the capturedsamples are between 13.5-24.8 cm and 22.01-161.19 g, respectively. There is no difference between female and male interms of total length and weight. When otolith dimensions of female and male were compared, there were no differences interms of otolith length (OL), otolith breadth (OB), otolith perimeter (OP) and otolith area (OA) (P˃0.05). However, accordingto left and right otoliths comparisons, there were differences in terms of otolith breadth and otolith perimeter (P˂0.05).Ellipticity was found to have a much stronger relationship with otolith length than the other five parameters (r2˃0.590).