Morphological analysis of Alburnoides samiii from Toolkhone River, Guilan Province, South Caspian Sea Basin

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of the installation of flood dams on the morphological variation of Alburnoides samiii Mousavi-Sabet, Vatandoust & Doadrio, 2015, in Toolkhone River, origin from Somam Mountain, the South Caspian Sea basin, north of Iran. Multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was employed for morphometric characteristics of the fish inhabit upstream and downstream of the dams. Significant differences in morphometric variables were observed between upstream and downstream populations. So that the downstream population had elongate body shape compared to the upstream ones. Results of ANOSIM analysis revealed that upstream sampling stations were significantly different from the downstream stations in terms of Bray Curtis dissimilarity(R = 0.54, p > 0.001). SIMPER analysis showed that fork length, total length, dorsal fin depth, body width, prepectoral distance, length of caudal fin, depth of pelvic fin, depth of anal fin base, length of dorsal fin base and length of pectoral fin were significantly contributed in the dissimilarity. Among these parameters, fork length, total length and standard length had more rate (%) of contribution. Liner discriminant analysis revealed that body width had the most correlation with ordination axis. In conclusion, although the isolation time of the two populations due to the construction of the dams was relatively short (approximately 10 years), the upstream and downstream groups exhibit significant differences in morphological variables associated with their hydrodynamic balance and swimming abilities.