Journal of Natural Environment

Investigating the morphological diversity of five species of gobies of the genus Ponticola (Gobiiformes: Gobiidae) in rivers of the southern Caspian Sea basin

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

2 Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran.

10.22059/jne.2024.376255.2666

Abstract

This work aimed to investigate the morphological diversity of five species of the genus  Ponticola viz. P. syrian, P. group, P. ironic, P. primary, and P. hircaniaensis (Gobiidae). For this purpose, the specimens of the studied species were sampled from different stations in the rivers of the southern basin of the Caspian Sea in the provinces of Guilan, Golestan, and Mazandaran, and a total of 20 morphometric characteristics were measured. Then, the morphological characteristics after standardization were compared using PCA, Kruskal-Wallis, and CVA analyses. Based on the results, all characteristics showed significant differences. The studied species, except P. iranicus and P. hircaniaensis, were discriminated from each other, and the most important discriminative characters were the height of the second dorsal fin, preanal length, the length of the pectoral fin, the length of the caudal peduncle, the pre dorsal length, ventral fin length, and head length. The members of the genus Ponticola are similar in terms of morphological traits; hence, it is suggested that the whole traditional morphometric characters in a PCA analysis and molecular data be used to discriminate the species in this genus.

Keywords

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Journal of Natural Environment
Volume 77, Ecology and Biodiversity Management
July 2024
Pages 189-197