2. Research Title:
MORPHOMETRIC, MERISTIC CHARACTERS ANDMORPHOMETRIC, MERISTIC CHARACTERS AND
THEIR RELATIONSHIPS INTHEIR RELATIONSHIPS IN Channa punctatusChanna punctatus
(BLOCH) OF RIVER(BLOCH) OF RIVER INDUS, DISTRICTINDUS, DISTRICT JAMSHORO,JAMSHORO,
SINDH, PAKISTAN.SINDH, PAKISTAN.
Name of Scholar:BUSHRA ANNY DARS

3. INTRODUCTION
• Channa punctatus (Bloch) also known as
Murrel and locally known as “Shakur” are
native to fresh water system of tropical Africa
and Southern Asia (Nelson, 1984) they can be
found in rivers, canals, lakes, swamps,
marshes, and rice fields (Mirza, 1988) in
almost any habitat where there is water (Wee,
1982) they are plenty available in open water
bodies of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand,
India and Nepal (Rahman, 1989).

4. INTRODUCTION
• It is fast growing fish and popular due to the
absence of intramuscularly bones, less fat
and protein content high in comparison to
other commercial species like carps (Rath,
2000).

5. INTRODUCTION
• In Polyculture system this fish is used as
police fish to control the number of young
tilapia (Curz and Laudenica, 1980) this fish
has high market price having great tolerance
to adverse water quality.

6. INTRODUCTION
Presently, no published information is available
on the morphometric and meristic characters
and their relationship in commercially important
fish, Channa punctatus from Pakistan.
So the present study was initiated to supply the
baseline data on this commercially important
fish, which would enable the future researcher
to culture this species in open water.

7. Objectives of the present Study.
• Morphometric measurements of various body
parts of shakur, Channa punctatus.
• Meristic counts of shakur, Channa punctatus.

9. a) Morphometric study
• For the morphometric study a total number of
200 specimens of Channa punctatus (Bloch)
with total length ranging from 67.0 to 245 mm
were collected from river Indus District,
Jamshoro, Sindh, during March to August
2010. The Experimental fish of various body
lengths, collected from River Indus are shown
in (Fig. 1)

10. Fig. 1 Show the measurement length of fish Channa punctatus (Bloch) from
River Indus.

11. Morphometric study
All the Measurements, except eye diameter, were taken on
a millimeter scale. The eye diameter measurement was
taken with the help of veneer calipers (Fig 2).

12. Fig. 2. Show the measurement Instrument Digital vernier
caliper

13. Morphometric study
The following measurements were made from
each fish
(1) Total length (TL).
(2) Standard length (SL).
(3) Head length (HL).
(4) Dorsal fin length (DFL).
(5) Eye diameter (ED).
(6) Girth (G).

14. Morphometric study
(7) Tail fin length (TFL).
(8) Pectoral fin length: (Pec. FL).
(9) Pelvic fin length: (Pel. FL).
(10) Ventral fin length (VFL).
(11) Gape of mouth: (GM).

16. Morphometric Study
• Morphometric measurements Morphometric
measurements in relation to various body
parts in Channa punctatus (Bloch) were
studied separately for male and female from
river Indus near Jamshoro and presented in
tables 1 and 2 respectively.

17. Length
group (mm)
No. of
fish
TL
mm
SL
mm
% SL HL
mm
% HL ED/
HL
mm
% ED/
HL
GM/
HL
mm
%GM
601- 80.0 10 67 57.5 85.18 20 29.62 5.0 25.0 5.0 25
80.1-100.0 30 98 88.7 89.86 29.05 29.88 5.0 16.94 5.0 17.21
100.1-120.0 20 118 98.5 83.12 34.80 29.36 4.86 13.96 13.54 38.90
120.1-140.0 32 132 109.6 82.83 74.29 28.12 5.94 14.72 11.99 16.13
140.1-160.0 10 157 120.8 76.69 44.95 28.53 6.45 14.34 14.35 31.92
160.1-180.0 17 174 146.4 84.04 53.75 30.85 6.69 12.44 15.85 29.48
180.1-200.0 10 196 165.0 84.18 58.0 29.59 6.84 11.79 17.72 30.55
200.1-220.0 05 210 176.66 84.12 61.52 29.29 7.63 12.40 22.06 35.85
220.1-240.0 05 233 193.3 82.85 67.08 28.75 7.66 14.1 19.67 29.32
140. 1-260.0 02 245 200 81.54 67.35 27.46 7.69 11.38 24.9 36.97
Total 141
Table.1. Morphometric measurements of various body parts of male,
Channa punctatus (Bloch) from River Indus, Sindh, Pakistan.

18. Girth
mm
%
Girth
DFL
mm
%
DFL
VFL
mm
%
VFL
Pec
FL
mm
%
Pec
Fl
Pel.
FL
mm
%
Pel FL
TFL
mm
%TFL
30.0 44.44 3.0 44.44 20 29.62 5.0 7.40 2.0 2.02 5.0 5.06
39.0 39.91 3.0 30.39 20 20.26 5.0 5.06 2.0 2.03 5.0 7.40
64.0 54.0 5./5 46.41 39.5 33.33 7.9 6.66 5.0 2..38 10.0 8.35
143.1 54.18 6.33 45.86 82.0 31.04 8.2 6.19 5.0 2.55 16.5 8.43
84.05 53.65 6.7 38.53 56.5 35.87 10.0 6.34 5.0 2..78 19.7 8.78
90.7 52.06 8.7 52.29 58.5 33.58 10.0 5.10 5.0 2.83 20.0 9.12
106.0 54.08 9.1 42.85 56.3 28.72 10.0 5.74 5.0 2.87 20.5 9.76
113.33 53.96 10.0 28.57 70.0 33.33 10.4 5.76 5.0 3.17 20.5 10.4
126.6 54.26 11.0 42.91 70.0 30.0 10.5 5.78 5.0 3.24 20.5 10.20
125.2 51.07 1.0 44.85 80.25 32.72 20.0 8.57 7.0 3.78 24.1 11.30
Total
Cont. Table. 1. Morphometric measurements of various body parts of male, Channa
punctatus (Bloch) from River Indus, Sindh, Pakistan.

19. Length
group (mm)
No. of
fish
TL
mm
SL
mm
% SL HL
mm
% HL ED/
HL
mm
% ED/
HL
GM
/HL
%GM
601- 80.0
80.1-100.0
100.1-120.0
120.1-140.0
140.1-160.0 02 160 13 81.25 44.88 280.5 6.40 12.41 15.56 28.3
160.1-180.0 20 174 14.55 83.62 50.09 287.8 6.45 12.87 15.85 28.4
180.1-200.0 19 195 16.55 84.87 55.51 284.6 6.73 12.12 16.99 31.64
200.1-220.0 10 217 18.21 83.87 60.36 278.2 7.91 12.10 19.88 32.05
220.1-240.0 05 235 19.5 82.97 70.0 297.87 7.87 12.42 21.49 35.60
140. 1-260.0 03 245 20.0 81.63 69.25 282.65 8.65 13.10 22.20 37.85
Total
Table. 2. Morphometric measurements of various body parts of female,
Channa punctatus (Bloch) from River Indus, Sindh, Pakistan.

20. Girth
mm
%
Girth
DFL
mm
%
DFL
VFL
mm
%
VFL
PecFL
mm
%
PecFL
Pel.FL
mm
%
Pel.FL
TFL
mm
%
TFL
80 48.97 7.5 40.81 4.0 25.0 1.0 5.12 0.5 2.04 1.5 8.62
93.5 50 8.45 42.55 5.85 28.57 1.0 5.31 0.5 2.12 1.5 9.37
104 51.95 8.72 44.71 5.88 29.78 1.05 6.03 0.5 2.30 2.0 10.20
112 53.53 10.0 46.06 7.0 30.15 1.25 6.12 0.5 2.56 2.0 10.25
130 55.31 10.0 46.87 7.0 32.24 1.38 6.25 0.5 2.87 2.5 10.60
135 64.26 10.0 48.56 7.0 33.62 1.50 6.35 0.5 3.12 2.5 11.51
Total
Cont. Table. 2 Morphometric measurements of various body parts of female,
Channa punctatus (Bloch) from River Indus, Sindh, Pakistan.

21. Morphometric measurements
• In order to compare the growth rate of various
morphometric characters in relations to total
length have been calculated from 200 fish
specimens ranged between 67.0 to 245 mm in
total length. The following mathematical
equations were obtained in regression
analysis between.

22. Morphometric measurements Male
• TL and SL: SL = -0.01 + 0.96 TL (r = 0. 96)
TL and HL: HL= -0.24 + 0.87 TL (r = 0. 98).
• TL and Girth: G = -0.44 + 1. 08 TL (r = 0. 96).
• TL and DFL: DFL = -0.12 + 1.89 TL (r = 0. 92).
• TL and VFL: VFL= - 0.67 + 1.08 TL (r = 0. 99).
• TL and Pec. FL = - 0.77 + 0.80 TL (r = 0. 96)
• TL and Pel FL= - 1. 10 + 0.80 TL (r = 0. 99).

23. Morphometric measurements
• TL and TFL: TFL= -1.57 + 1.24 TL (r = 0. 92).
• Whereas, the eye diameter and gape of mouth
measurements were found to be highly
correlated with the head length.

24. Morphometric measurements
• HL and ED: ED = - 0.03 + 0.50 HL (r = 0. 96).
• HL and GM: GM = - 0.71 + 1.09 HL (r = 0. 99).

25. • TL and SL: SL = - 1.0 + 1.70 TL (r = 0. 94).
• TL and HL: HL - 2.33 + 3.13 TL (r = 0. 94).
• TL and Girth: Gir = - 3.0 + 3.08TL (r = 0. 99)
• TL and DFL: DFL = - 0.23 + 0.91TL (r = 0. 98)
• TL and VFL: VFL= - 027 + 0.92 TL (r = 0. 98)
• TL and Pec.FL: PecFL= - 0.3 +1.03 TL(r = 0. 90)
Morphometric measurements of female

26. Morphometric measurements of female
• TL and Pel. FL = - 0.2 + 0.69 TL (r = 0. 98)
• TL and TFL = - 0.6 + 0.69 TL (r = 0. 99)
• Whereas, eye diameter and gape of mouth
measurements were found to be highly
correlated with the head length.
• HL and ED - 0. 3 + 0. 66 HL (r = 0. 98)
• HL and GM - 0. 25 + 0. 86 HL (r = 0. 98)

28. b) Meristic Characters
• In total six meristic character were studied
and counts were made of (1) Dorsal fin rays
(2) Ventral fin rays (3) Pectoral fin rays (4)
Pelvic fin rays (5) Tail fin rays (6) Lateral line
scales count.
• Table. 3 show the range and mean values of
meristic counts of males and females.

29. Table 3 : Comparison of Meristic Characters of males
(N=141) and females (N=59) channa punctatus (Bloch)
from river Indus
Meristic
Characters
Male Female
Range Mean Rang Mean
Dorsal fin ray 25-30 30.0 25-30 30.0
Ventral fin ray 15-20 19.0 15-20 19.0
Pectoral fin ray 10-15 15.0 10-15 15.0
Pelvic fin ray 0-5 5.0 0-5 5.0
Tail fin ray 10-15 15.0 10-15 15.0
Lateral line scales
counts
30-38 36.0 30-38 36.0

30. Meristic Characters
• An application of “t” test showed that there is
no significant difference between various
morphometric and meristic characters of
males and females of Channa punctatus from
the river Indus except girth values.

31. Conclusion
• The reliability of the above equations would be
seen to be high from the coefficient of
correlation (r =) values in all cases
• From the regression equations it is evident that
the standard length, head length, dorsal fin
length, pectoral fin length were found to be
linear with total length

32. Conclusion
• While gape of mouth verses head length and
pelvic fin length verses total length were
observed highly correlated with the total length
• In case of male the head length verses gape of
mouth (r = 0.99) and Pel. Fin length verses total
length (r = o.99) as compared to the female (r
=0.98) and (r = 0.98) respectively.
• The tail fin length verses total length (r = 0.99)
and girth verses total length were found to be
highly correlated in the case of female as
compared to male.

33. Conclusion
• It is concluded that females were found to be
more pot-bailed and broader than that of
males.
• While males were found to be smaller in size
and slim body.
• From the morphometric study and meristic
counts of large number of specimens in the
present study. It was inferred that there is a
single homogenous stock of Channa
punctatus exists in the river Indus.

34. AUDIENCE
PRESENTED BY:
NIMRA & PARAS
PRESENTED BY:
BUSHRA ANNY DARS