Morphometric and Meristic traits of four flatheads (family: Platycephalidae) occurring along the East coast of India

Abstract

Study on a meristic traits of Kumococius rodericensis Sorsogona tuberculata Platycephalus indicus and Rogadius serratus (family Platycephalidae), occurring along the East coast of India, was conducted to find easily differentiating traits. The study was based on the samples collected from landing centers situated along the East coast of India, during February 2015 to March 2016. A total of thirty-one morphometric and meristic characters were measured, counted and subjected to statistical analysis using software Statistica. Among eighteen morphometric measurements, five measurement (distance between upper and lower jaw, length of upper preopercular spine, snout length, maximum length of first dorsal spine, maximum length of second dorsal spine) did not show difference when subjected to factor analysis. Varimax raw factor rotation on factor loading 0.7 were selected for scatterplot of canonical score among root 1 and root 2, which revealed existence of distinct group of species. Number of gillrakers, spot on caudal fin, number of pored scale on lateral line and preopercular spine revealed significant variations among the species. The proportional measurements with their head length (HL) viz. Preorbital length: head length (POL:HL), Inter orbital width: head length (IOW:HL), and maximum eye diameter: head length (MED:HL) also revealed significant difference among the species. The study revealed certain morphological characters those can easily identify the flathead species.