Morphometric variations and length-weight relationships of chue snail Faunus ater (Linnaeus, 1758) in the southwest coast estuary of Aceh, Indonesia

Abstract

Chue snail, Faunus ater is commonly found on the south-west coast of Aceh. This snail is consumed by the Aceh people and is an important ingredient in the traditional food of the Acehnese. Presently, there is limited information related to chue snails in Aceh waters, including morphological variations and length-weight relationships. These details are crucial for better management planning for this species. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the morphological variations and length-weight relationships of F. ater on the southwest coast of Aceh, Indonesia. Sampling was carried out from July to August 2023 in six estuaries as the presentative of six popula tions covered six districts, namely: Jantang Aceh Besar, Kuala Teunom Aceh Jaya, Kuala Ujong Kalak Aceh Barat, Kuala Trang Nagan Raya, Kuala Lama Tuha Aceh Barat Daya, and Jembatan Kembar Aceh Singkil. A total of 60 samples from each location were used for morphometric analysis using traditional morphometric approaches and the Linear Allometric Model (LAM) for growth patterns. The results showed that the F. ater popula tion was divided into three groups based on the scatter plot, where one group consisted of four populations, namely Jantang (Aceh Besar), Teunom (Aceh Jaya), Ujong Kalak (West Aceh), Kuala Trang (Nagan Raya) and the other two groups were represented by one popula tion or location. The growth pattern of F. ater on the south-west coast of Aceh is classified as negative allometric, the rela tive weight condition factor tends to 100, and the Fulton condition factor is in the range of 1.35-3.33.