A STUDY ON FEEDING, REPRODUCTION, AGE AND GROWTH OF DARK SLEEPER ODONTOBUTIS OBSCURA IN BAO'AN LAKE

The feeding, reproduction, age and growth of dark sleeper Odontobutis obscura (Temm. et Schl.) were studied annually. The dark sleeper is a carivor,preying mainly on shrimps and small fishes as well as on aquatic insect larvae. Bothsexes of dark sleeper reach their sexual maturity at 1 year old. The sex-ratio (♀：♂)is 1:1. 34 in total, with great fluctuation around the breeding season. The breedingseason lasts from early April to mid-June. Dark sleeper spawns in "nest" and themale guards in the nest The individual absolute fecundity varies from 540 to 1943eggs (1154 ±317 eggs on average). In the capture, 2-and 3-year-old individualswere the majority, and individuals of 8.0cm to 14.0cm in body length and 10.0g to40.0g in body weight were met frequently. The relationship between body-length andbody-weight can be expressed as W=0.02129L3.0585. The males grow faster than thefemales. Individuals of both sexes slow their growth down at age of 3. Theparameters of VBGF (von Bertalanffy Growth Formula) is♀：L∞ = 15.29cm, W∞=84.9g, t0 = 0.1596, k = 0.4072,♂： L∞ = 16.71cm, W∞= 118.5g, t0 = 0.1095, k=0.3736. The inflexion point of female's bodyweight growth curve is at age (ti) of 2.9a and body-weight (Wi) of 25.1g, that of male's is at age (ti) of 3.1 a andbody-weight (Wi) of 35.4g.