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

The gill respiratory area (GRSA) was determined in 6 specimens of Perca 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 79942 mm(2) in the largest one, within the investigated range of body weight. The calculated allometric relationship between GRSA and body weight 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, changing from 965 to 405 mm(2)/g. The obtained results show that previously published GRSA values for the perch were overestimated up to 6 times.