MORPHOMETRY OF THE GILL RESPIRATORY AREA IN THE PERCH, PERCA-FLUVIATILIS

The gill respiratory area (GRSA) was determined in 6 specimens of Perc a fluviatilis, of a body weight ranging from 10 to 199 g. The observed GRSA values increased from 9756 mm(2) in the smallest species to 7994 2 mm(2) in the largest one, within the investigated range of body weig ht. The calculated allometric relationship between GRSA and body weigh t may be expressed by the equation: Y = 1860.72 W-0.698. The growth of species is accompanied by decrease in GRSA per body weight unit, chan ging from 965 to 405 mm(2)/g. The obtained results show that previousl y published GRSA values for the perch were overestimated up to 6 times .