Morphological Variation, Length-Weight Relationship and Condition Factor of Cabdio morar (Hamilton, 1822) Populations in Southeast of Iran

Abstract

The present study was conducted to study the morphological variation of the Cabdio morar populations in Mashkil, Sarbaz and Jegin rivers in terms of morphometric, meristic, length-weight relationship and condition factor. A total of 21 morphometric and 7 meristic traits were measured and counted, respectively, and data was analyzed using One-Way ANOVA, Duncan test, Kruskal-Wallis, principal component analysis (PCA), canonical variate analysis (CVA) and cluster analysis. The results indicated significant differences in 9 morphometric characters (P<0.05), but meristic traits showed no differences between the populations (P>0.05). Multivariate results separated the studied populations showing that the studied populations are delimited mostly by the body depth and dorsal-fin height characters. The values of the length-weight relationship parameters showed that the population of Mashkil River has an almost isometric growth pattern, and the two others negative pattern. In addition, Condition factors of Sarbaz population showing were lower (0.89±0.23), than two other populations i.e. Jegin and Mashkil (1.35±0.17 and 1.21±0.32, respectively) showing poor conditions of its habitat.