Landmark-based morphometric and meristic variations of stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) among three isolated stocks, the Old Brahmaputra river and the Tanguar haor and a hatchery

 

Author(s): Md. Mokhlasur Rahman, Md. Rajib Sharker, Kanij Rukshana Sumi, Mohammad Azharul Alam and Md. Shafaet Hossen

Abstract: The experiment was conducted by observing the landmark-based morphometric and meristic variations to evaluate the population status of three different stocks of stinging catfish or shing, Heteropnuestes fossilis. A total of 150 H. fossilis were collected from the Old Brahmaputra river, Mymensingh; the Tanguar haor, Sunamganj and a hatchery, Mymensingh during August to September 2011. Six meristic, sixteen morphometric characters and twenty three truss distances were measured. Significant differences were found in three meristic counts (P<0.05). But morphometric and truss network measurements after plotting discriminant functions revealed high segregation among three different stocks of H. fossilis. Discriminant Function (DF) analysis of seven morphometric measurements of pre-dorsal length ( PrDL), anal fin length (AFL), highest body depth (HBD), post-orbital length (PsOL), maximum barbel length (BLmx), mouth gap (MG) and peduncle length (PdnL) were contributed dominantly to the first DF and the rest of the characters of  post-dorsal length (PsDL), pre-orbital length (PrOL), head length (HL), standard length (SL), lowest body depth (LBD), minimum barbel length (BLmn), caudal fin length (CFL) and eye length (EL) contributed to the second DF. The twenty three truss measurements, six were leading to the first DF and the rest seventeen contributed to the second DF. The dendrogram showed two major clusters: the Brahmaputra and Tanguar stocks in one cluster and hatchery stock in another cluster. There was a high degree of variation in morphological characteristics among three different stocks of H. fossilis.

Download Full Article: Click Here