Abstract
The present study focuses on the temporal variations of condition through multiple functions (allometric, K-A; Fulton's, K-F; relative, K-R) and prey-predator status through relative weight (W-R) for two halfbeaks, Hemiramphus archipelagicus (Collette & Parin, 1978) and Hemiramphus lutkei (Valenciennes, 1847) using the monthly samples from the Karachi Coast of Pakistan during January to December 2014. The smallest individual was 14.0 cm in TL for both species, but the largest individuals were 23.5 in TL for H. archipelagicus and 27.8 cm in TL for H. lutkei. The BW ranged from 8.0-27.4 g for H. archipelagicus and 7.0-37.4 g for H. lutkei. There was significant differences in length-frequency distributions (LFDs) between two species (P<0.001). The K-F was highly correlated with TL for both species (Spearman rank test, P<0.001). Therefore, it is suggested that K-F is the best condition factor for assessing the wellbeing of this two Halfbeaks in the Karachi Coast of Pakistan. There was no significant relationships between TL vs. K-A (r(s)=-0.0264, P=0.056 for H archipelagicus and r(s)=-0.0883, P=0.855), TL vs. K-R (r(s)=-0.0108, P=0.813 for H archipelagicus and r(s)=0.0235, P=0.608) and TL vs. WR (r(s)=-0.0099, P=0.828 for H archipelagicus and 1; r(s)=0.0235, P=0.608 for H hake, but significant relationships were found in TL vs. K-F, BW vs. K-A, BW vs. K-F, BW vs. K-R and BW vs. W-R (P<0.001) for both species. In addition, the WR was not significantly different from 100 (Wilcoxon signed rank test, P=0.654 for H archipelagicus and P=0.405 for H lutkei) for both Halfbeaks in the Karachi Coast of Pakistan, indicating the habitat is still in balance condition with the good combination of prey and predators.