Relationship between Babylonia snail (Babylonia spirata, Linnaeus, 1758) biomass and physicochemical parameters of water on the northern waters of the Oman Sea (Sistan and Baluchistan Province)

In this study, the relationship between water physicochemical parameters (sampling of water and soil) and Babylon snail biomass was done by sampling from four fishing grounds of this species in the north of the Oman Sea including Pasabandar, Breis, Pozm, and Konarak from September 2021 to September 2022 by circular cages. The average values of different physicochemical parameters (pH, salinity, turbidity, TOM, dissolved oxygen, and sand and silt) and different nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, ammonia, and nitrite) in the before and after seasons (monsoon) did not show a significant difference (p>0.05) through one-way variance analysis (between several periods) comparison of averages. Temperature and silt parameters from different seasons (before and after monsoon) had significant differences (p<0.05). Multi-layer artificial neural network was used for the correlation among the snail biomass, physicochemical parameters, and water nutrients and it showed that Temperatures and Nitrite were the most impact parameters on (snail biomass). From September to November, the highest catch rate was observed and it was the main season of Babylon snail fishing in Sistan and Baluchistan region due to the decrease in the water temperature and increase in the nitrite content. This study can be considered for fishing sustainability, basic management in exploitation, and a better understanding of the biological and demographic characteristics of this snail species.