OBSERVATION ON THE BODY MASS WEIGHT-LENGTH RELATIONSHIP AND RELATIVE CONDITION FACTOR OF Macrobrachium assamensis peninsularis (Tiwari) FROM KHOH RIVER, UTTARAKHAND, INDIA

Present study comprises the body mass weight-length relationship and relative condition factor of 114 prawns (54 male and 60 female) from Khoh River, Uttarakhand, India. Macrobrachium assamensis peninsularis is commonly known as “Geegu Machi”. The prawn samples were grouped in different seasonal and gender groups and close relationships between their length and weight were noticed. The regression coefficient for gender and pooled data varied from a minimum of 1.3002 for the male to a maximum of 1.4988 for the female. The analysis revealed that the total length of Macrobrachium assamensis peninsularis was positively correlated to its weight (r = 0.8672) in the case of pooled data. The correlation was also high for males (r = 0.8994) and females (r = 0.8738) separately. For season and gender, it ranged from a minimum 1.0562 (r = 0.6979) during monsoon to 1.3893 (r = 0.8938) during summer (maximum) for male and from 1.1863 (r = 0.7546) in monsoon (minimum) to 1.5630 (r = 0.8999) in summer (maximum) for female prawn. For pooled data it ranged from 1.1387 (r = 0.7277) during monsoon (minimum) to 1.5057 (r = 0.8945) during summer (maximum). The relative condition factor was minimum in August for males (0.825±0.060), females (0.868± 0.072), and in pooled data (0.845±0.067). The maximum value of 0.969±0.052 for males, 0.987±0.061 for females, and 0.976±0.057 for pooled data were observed in January. The second peak values were maximum during June (0.966±0.058) for males, females (0.971±0.063), and pooled data (0.969±0.061). It might be due to high sexual maturity. The values were also quite high during January, which again indicated the suitability of the environment and proper food availability in the River Khoh.