1
Assistan Professor, Higher Education Institute of AgriculturalScience and Natural Resources of Sari
2
Associate Professor, Faculty of Science, Shahid Beheshti University
Abstract
A study was conducted to determine suitable characters for separating 2 Shemaya ( Chalcalburnus chalcoides ) populations of Haraz and Gazafrud Rivers in spring 2004. Using cast net, 73 speciemens were collected in 2 rivers ( i.e: 35 in Gazafrud vs. 38 in Haraz ). 27 morphometric characters, 11 meristic characters and 20 proportional morphometric characters were used. PCA in SPSS software was used to determine the best separating ( isolating ) characters of populations and its separation distance. For morphometric characters, 8 factors with about 77/2 % of character diversity within individuals were selected including; total length, fork length bodydepth, head length and premaxillalength. In the case of meristic characters, four factors with 70/75 % of diversity of characters within individuals were selected including; caudalpeduncle scales, scalerows above lateral line and gill reakers ( anterior ). As far as proportional morphometric character are concerned, seven factors with 81% of character diversity within individuals were selected including 1 character. The results showed while morphometric as well as proportional morphometric characters were useful for population separation, the meristic characters could not separate the populations.
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