Simple definition: Biomass is the total weight of all the fish living in a pond at one time.
Detailed Explanation
Biomass grows as fish grow, even if you never add another fish. A pond that was lightly stocked at first can reach its biomass limit a year later purely from growth, which is why stocking plans need to account for full-grown weight, not starting size.
Why It Matters
Filtration, aeration, and feeding all need to scale with biomass, not just fish count. Two ponds with the same number of fish can have very different biomass if the fish are different sizes.
Practical Example
Ten fingerlings and ten adult fish have wildly different biomass, even though both ponds have ’10 fish.’
