How does the body-scale model affect back-calculated growth: the example of arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus (L.) of Lake Geneva (Switzerland)

• Published in: Aquatic Sciences
• Main Authors: Rubin, J. F., Perrin, N.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1990
• Subjects: geo; manag; Arctic; Arctic charr; Salvelinus alpinus
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00877285; https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_644E75B57C33

When back-calculating fish length from scale measurements, the choice of the body-scale relationship is a fundamental step. Using data from the arctic charrSalvelinus alpinus (L.) of Lake Geneva (Switzerland) we show the need for a curvilinear model, on both statistical and biological grounds. From several 2-parameters models, the log-linear relationship appears to provide the best fit. A 3-parameters, Bertalanffy model did not improve the fit. We show moreover that using the proportional model would lead to important misinterpretations of the data.