Abstract:

【Objective】Identify the age of Triplophysa pseudoscleroptera and explore the growth changes to gather basic biological data for Triplophysa，and provide references for the protection of fishery resources in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River.【Methods】Triplophysa pseudoscleroptera samples were selected from different fishing stations in Qinghai Province and Gansu Province in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. Otolith materials were used to identify the age. Von Bertalanffy GF（VBGF），Logistic GF，Gompertz GF and Power exponential GF were used to simulate the full-length growth of Triplophysa pseudoscleroptera. The maximum likelihood method was used to estimate the model parameters.The fitting effect of the models was evaluated by calculating and comparing the AIC value of each model to determine the growth model suitable for Triplophysa pseudoscleroptera.【Results】The Triplophysa pseudoscleroptera samples were separated into 4 age groups ranging from 2 to 5 years，with the 3-year group having the most amount，accounting for 54.88%. The full-length of the samples ranged from 6.19 to 13.76 cm，and the body weight ranged from 1.58 to 19.12 g. The fitting results of the four Triplophysa pseudoscleroptera growth models showed that the Logistic GF growth model had the lowest AIC value（-86.66）and best fitting effect，followed by Gompertz GF（-86.52）and VBGF（-86.31）growth model. Power exponential GF growth model had the highest AIC value（-82.51） and the worst fitting effect. The Triplophysa pseudoscleroptera growth model Logistic GF equation was $ L_{t}=\frac{14.585}{\left[1+\mathrm{e}^{0.568\left(t_{i}-1.948\right)}\right]}$.【Conclusion】Logistic GF was the most suitable growth model for Triplophysa pseudoscleroptera in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River.

Key words: Triplophysa pseudoscleroptera, Age, Growth, Otolith, Growth model, Middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River