Abstract
Relationships between total length (TL) and fecundity, body weight and fecundity, ovary length and fecundity, and ovary weight and fecundity of hilsa shad, Tenualosa ilisha Hamilton, collected from Kuakata, Patuakhali, Bangladesh, were studied. During the sampling period, the fecundity of hilsa was found to range from 169,000 (fish TL=28.0cm, weight=250g) to 1,088,000 (fish TL=40.5cm, weight=955g) with a mean of $520{\pm}53{\times}1,000$. The number of eggs per gram of ovary for samples collected from the anterior, middle, and posterior regions of the ovary were also recorded, but no significant variation was found among ovary regions at the 5% level of significance. Fecundity increased with fish TL and weight. The regression equations obtained in arithmetic forms of relationships between TL and fecundity (F), body weight (BW) and fecundity, ovary length (OL) and fecundity, and ovary weight (OW) and fecundity were $F=-887,896+40,511{\times}TL(r=0.85)$, $F=67,577+755.44{\times}BW(r=0.85)$, $F=-562,070+87,668{\times}OL(r=0.75)$ and $F=124,815+6,596.7{\times}OW (r=0.84)$, respectively. The relationships between fecundity and TL, body weight, ovary length, and ovary weight were linear, and the 'r' values were highly significant (p<0.01). These results provide valuable data for the restoration of hilsa resources, which are economically important but have shown reduced productivity in nations adjacent to the Bay of Bengal.
