Study of Landmark-based morphological variations of family Cyprinidae from the River Indus Punjab, Pakistan

Stock identification is the key to maintain fisheries conservation and management. The current study used morphometric, meristic and truss box analysis, body shape and color for identification of ten commercially important Cyprinids species Catla catla, Labeo calbasu, Labeo gonius, Labeo boga, Labeo rohita, Cyprinus carpio, Cirrhinus mrigala, Cirrhinus reba, Salmostoma phulo and Systomus sarana from Mianwali, Kallur Kot and Dera Ghazi. The inventory regarding stock identification was investigated using a total of ۲۴ morphometric, ۵ meristic and ۳۰ truss measurements for each individual. To assess variations among the stock structure, univariate and multivariate analysis by using principle component analysis and cluster analysis were performed. In this study ۲۴ morphometric parameters were analysed in which ۱۶ characters in C. catla, ۹ charaters in L. calbasu, ۳ charaters in L. gonius, ۶ charaters in L. boga, ۸ charaters in L. rohita, ۱۱ charaters in C. carpio, ۹ charaters in C. mrigala, and ۷ charaters in S. sarana were found significantly (p<۰.۰۵) variable among three different populations. Among three populations, non-significant difference was observed in C. reba and S. phullo. PC analysis of meristic parameters showed two principal components (PC۱, ۵۸.۱% and PC۲, ۲۱.۷%) together explained total variance of ۷۹.۸%. DFR, AFR and CFR showed a significant loading in PC۱ and PC۲ are responsible for species differentiation. Thirty truss box measurements were used in PC analysis revealed a total variability (۸۴.۵ %) between various variables. All truss measurements showed significantly (p≤۰.۰۵) strong correlation with each other. A dendrogram based on hierarchical cluster was obtained from the average measurement analysis of truss – based morphological characters showed twenty major clusters to elucidate the relationships among fish species and their environment. These differentiations are expected because of geographical isolation, environmental impact, genetic variations and due to different ancestral origin. There is no study on the taxonomic characterization of studied fishes from these regions of River Indus Punjab, Pakistan.  This study established a novel and critical baseline for the taxonomic and phylogenetic characterization of commercially important Cyprinid species, highlighting significant morphological and genetic variations which is critical for effective fisheries conservation and management.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cyprinidae ، Morphometric counts ، Meristic counts ، Truss-network analysis ، Multivariate analysis (PCA) ، Conservation ، River Indus