Meristic and morphometric characteristics of endemic Neretva chub, Squalius svallize from the Neretva River area, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The Neretva chub, Squalius svallize (Heckel & Kner, 1858) is an endemic species that by Kottelat and Freyhof (2007) lives only in the Neretva, Trebisnjica and Ljuta drainages of the Adriatic basin in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Altogether 60 specimens were caught by anchored gill nets (28-72 mm) from the Lake Deran and the rivers Bregava and Krupa, all from the Neretva river area. All locations were studied seasonally (October 2006 ; February, May, August 2007). Total length range of the fish was between 15.6 and 28.0 cm, while their age varied between 3 and 7 years. The fish were measured for 23 body lengths (including gut lengths) to the nearest 0.1 cm. Lengths on the head are counted in % of head length, while others in % of total length. Furthermore the number of spines (unforked rays) and branched (forked) rays in dorsal, anal and pectoral fins were counted, together with the number of scales in lateral line, above and below it. All data were analyzed for the sexes combined.The morphometric characters on the head express greater variation (SD between 4.15 and 6.84) than those from the body (SD between 0.61 and 2.97). As expected, the meristic features that have much greater heritabilities are very stabile (SD between 0.00 and 0.66). Although the values of correlation coefficient r vary between 0.684 (minimum body width) and 0.989 (fork length) they are all strongly significant (p<0.01).