Abstract:

 In order to study the effects of morphometric traits on body weight in large yellow croaker Pseudosciaena crocea at different stage, 1704 13-month-old individuals and 596 20-month-old individuals from the Min-yue Dong Tribe were sampled for measuring the metric traits, including the total length (x1), body length (x2), body height (x3), and body weight (y). The data were used in correlation analysis and path analysis. The results showed that the Pearson correlations between every two metric traits ranged from 0.800 to 0.977, and all reached significance level (P<0.01) at these two stages. At the 13-month-old stage, the trait with the strongest direct effect on body weight was the body height (0.522), then the body length (0.445); the direct effect of total length is not significant (P>0.05). At the 20-month-old stage, the trait with the strongest direct effect on body weight was also body height (0.394), then the body length (0.328), the total length (0.271), all reaching the significance level (P<0.01). The path analysis at the two stages showed that the effect of morphometric traits on body weight was different at different stage. For selection at the 13-month-old stage, we should keep our eyes on body height and body length. At a later stage (20-month-old stage), however, the body height, body length, total length should be considered.

Key words: Pseudosciaena crocea, path analysis, correlation, morphometric traits, body weight