Trussmorphometric and meristic characters of kelabau fish (Osteochilus melanopleurus Bleeker, 1852) from three populations in Kampar, Siak, and Rokan Rivers, Riau Province

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the morphometric and the meristic characters of the kelabau fish from the Siak, Kampar, and Rokan river populations that could be used as an initial step forconservation. A total of 113 kelabau from Kampar River, 58 fish from the Siak River and84 fishfrom the Rokan River was used in this study. Measurement of 21 morphological characters was conducted using a morphometric truss method. The analysis was carried out using a one-way ANOVA and Discriminant Function Analysis ( SPSS software). Meristiccharacteristics were analyzed descriptively for 30 fish per population. Results indicates that among 21 morphometrical characteristics, 19 characters shown a significant different (P <0.05) and 2 characters were not significantly different (P> 0.05). This result indicates that fish population from all sampling areas shown similar characteristics. The discriminant analysis results show that the specific characters of the O. melanopleurus were A5, A2, A6, B1and D4. Scatterplot results indicate that the Rokan River population was separate from the Siak and Kampar River populations, and the morphology of the fish from the Rokan River population was slightly different from those of the Siak and Kampar River population. The meristic characteristics of fish obtained from all sampling areas were relatively similar.