Analysis of morphometric and meristic characteristics of Pomadasys stridens (Forsskål, 1775), Family: Haemulidae from the Gulf of Suez, Red Sea, Egypt.

Abstract

The morphological diagnosis, morphometric, and meristic characters for the striped piggy Pomadasys stridens in the Gulf of Suez were studied by the examination of 165 specimens collected during the fishing season 2017/2018. These fishes ranged from 8.2 to 16.3 cm in total length and 7.3 to 57.3 g in weight. Twenty morphometric and eleven meristic characters were investigated in detail. The analysis of morphometric characters revealed that the morphometric measurements of various body parts were dependent on body size and there is a gradual increase in morphometric measurements with an increase in body length. Regression analyses were performed between the independent variable “TL” and the dependent variables “FL, SL, HL, HD, , BD, PreDL, DFL, PrePL, PFL, PreVL, VFL, PreAL, AFL, CFL, CFH, CPL, CPD” as well as between the independent variable “HL” and the dependent variables “ED, PreOL”. The results showed that there was a positive linear relationship between various morphometric measurements and TL as well as HL with a medium to a high degree of correlation. On the other hand, the fish showed constant meristic characters, where there was no change in meristic counts with the increase in body length. The fin formula can be written as D XII+14; A III+8; P 15; V I+5; C 15 and the recorded number of LLS, GR, and V were 57, 22, and 24 respectively.