Morphometric and meristic comparisons of populations of Qanat tailor fish, Alburnoides qanati Coad & Bogutskaya, 2009 (Actinopterygii: Cyprinidae) in Kor River basin Iran

Document Type : Research articles

Authors

• HR Esmaeili
• N Nazari
• M Saifali

10.22067/ijab.v7i1.25503

Abstract

Inter- and intra-population variations of a recently described endemic cyprinid fish
Alburnoides qanati Coad and Bogutskaya, 2009 collected from three localities in the Kor
River basin, Iran, were studied by applying morphometric and meristic characters using
canonical discriminate function analysis (DFA), principal component analysis (PCA) and
cluster analysis (CA). In DFA, the overall random assignment of individuals into their
populations was 96.6% based on all the adjusted morphometric characters, 94.6% for
meristic characters, and 100% based on both morphometric and meristic characters,
indicating that the original grouped cases were correctly classified and they belonged to
three morphologically distinct populations. The first principal component (PC) accounted
for 16% and the second PC accounted for 15.8% of the shape variations among the
samples. The Cluster analysis revealed a similar pattern of separation of one population
from the others. The morphological heterogeneity observed in this species should be
considered in conservation management and stock enhancement programs, especially
during drought conditions in the region.

Keywords

• Alburnoides qanati
• inter- and intra- population variations
• morphological differences

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