Abstract. Kurniawan A, Pramono DY, Indrayati A, Hermanto, Triswiyana I. 2020. Short communication: Differences in local perceptions of Osteochilus spilurus (Cyprinidae: Labeoninae) from several islands in Indonesia. Asian J Ethnobiol 3: 79-84. Osteochilus spilurus is native freshwater fish on the islands of Sundaland, Indonesia. No study has been reported on this fish utilization other than in the Belitung Islands, so another local perception of Indonesian island needs to be investigated. Local recreational fishing in Palangkaraya, Pontianak, and Pekanbaru and fishers in Palangkaraya, Eastern and western of  Belitung, Southern and  Central Bangka, and North Lampung were the sources of local knowledge. We obtained data using a Facebook app survey to see local recreational fishers' awareness, interviews with one fisherman in each region, and a literature review for Belitung public perception. There is a different awareness of people from East Belitung to other regions. In East Belitung, knowledge of O. spilurus has a link to the local culture. Fishermen have the most relevant fishing gear expertise for the catch of O. spilurus, based on environmental factors and fish behavior. Large-scale fishing, consuming, and trade of it only takes place in East Belitung. It has an impact on the use of non-environmentally sustainable mesh size nets that threaten their natural survival.

Osteochilus spilurus is one of the native fish in Indonesia. This species from North Lampung has variations in body shape with populations in Bangka and Belitung. Morphological plasticity and genetic variation are potential causes of these differences. To confirm this, it is necessary to identify molecular using the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene. Fish samples from North Lampung had morphological characters that matched to the description of O. spilurus. This research specimen was registered at the Bogor Zoological Museum as a supplementary note from Lampung. The phylogenetic construction shows a closer relationship between fish samples from North Lampung and O. spilurus from Bangka-Belitung, but there is a wide genetic distance between them. Genetic variation between islands that occur is predicted due to differences in ancient river flows in the past and the geographical isolation of the oceans for thousands of years.Keywords: Cytochrome b; Lampung; Osteochilus spilurus; Genetic Variation