Discrimination of Sexual Dimorphism Through External Morphology of Spotted Steed (Hemibarbus Maculatus) in the Yuanhe River, China

Sexual Dimorphism and Discrimination of Barbel Steed (Hemibarbus labeo) in the Jinhe River, China: An Indicator of Habitat Status

“…Local characteristics D 7-9 , D 8-9 , and D 9-10 of male H. labeo were larger than those of females, and the difference between the two sexes was that the male H. labeo in the Ganjiang River had a larger caudal peduncle, similar to that of H. maculatus [18], Odontobutis obscurus [50], and catfish (Clarias fuscus) [51]. It is speculated that males have faster locomotion and explosive swimming abilities compared to females, such as steering ability, which is important for chasing females when breeding, cooperating with their egg-laying behavior to achieve reproductive success, and is also conducive to nesting and fighting behavior.…”

“…Our results showed that the SSD of H. labeo in the Jinhe River belonged to the first type. The larger the female individual, the greater the fecundity, and the combined effect was biased towards the result of fertility selection, which was the same as that of H. maculatus in the Yuanhe River [18]. In the same habitat of the Ganjiang River Basin, the sexual heteromorphism indices (SHIs) of H. labeo (0.13) and H. maculatus (0.126) were highly similar, indicating that under the same current comprehensive selection effect, these two species in the same genus evolved with the heteromorphic body size of the two sexes.…”

“…Both analyses yielded similar results. Therefore, the differences between male and female H. labeo in the Jinhe River were mainly concentrated in two aspects: fish body size and fullness, which was similar to that of I. Elongata [16], S. argus [17], and H. maculatus [18].…”

“…Sex identification methods, such as anatomy and the application of molecular biology techniques, have many limitations and are not suitable for the protection of fish or their practical application. It is a simple and practical method to discriminate between females and males based on external characteristics and has been successfully applied in many fish, such as Anguilla japonica [15], Ilisha elongata [16], Scatophagus argus [17], and Hemibarbus maculatus [18]. Establishing discriminant models based on morphological traits, the comprehensively classified accuracy can reach more than 85%.…”

Comparative Research on Intestinal Functions of Wild and Cultured Hemibarbus maculatus in Jialing River

“…Previous studies on Hemibarbus maculatus mainly focused on its mitochondrial genome and DNA [7,8], and in aquaculture, some researchers tried to propose better culture strategies to improve its growth [9][10][11]. In addition, more researchers have realized the importance of the gut recently; they are paying attention to gut microorganisms and have conducted experiments on how to cure fish with enteropathogenic bacterial infection [12,13].…”