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Vol. 51 No. 7, 2012
Studies on the Elemental Profile of Otoliths and Truss
Network Analysis for Stock Discrimination of the Threatened Stinging
Catfish Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch 1794) from the
Ganga River and Its Tributaries
Mohammad
Afzal Khan1,*, Kaish Miyan1, Shahista Khan1, Devendra Kumar Patel2, and
Nasreen Ghazi Ansari2
1Section
of Fishery Science and Aquaculture, Department of Zoology, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh -202 002, India
2Indian Institute of Toxicology Research,Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research, Lucknow-226 001, India
Mohammad Afzal Khan, Kaish Miyan, Shahista
Khan, Devendra Kumar Patel and Nasreen Ghazi Ansari (2012) The
present study was undertaken to identify different stocks of the
stinging catfish Heteropneustes
fossilis inhabiting the
Ganga, Yamuna and Gomti Rivers of India using the elemental profile of
sagittal otoliths and truss network analysis of the entire body
shape. Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry
was used to estimate concentrations of 12 trace elements in otoliths,
and 11 morphometric landmarks were chosen to construct a truss network
of the fish in order to discriminate among stocks. A discriminant
function (DF) analysis of elemental profiles showed that Ba, Pb, Zn,
and Sr successfully discriminated H.
fossilis populations from different rivers. DF-I, DF-II,
and DF-III accounted for 76.1%, 17.9%, and 6%, respectively, of the
among-group variability in the elemental profile of otoliths. In
the analysis of truss landmarks, the principal components, PC-I and
PC-II, respectively accounted for 39.1% and 13.4%, while DF-I and
DF-II, respectively accounted for 59.7% and 25.5% of the among-group
variability. The overall allocation success of individuals to
their group of origin was high (98.7%) in the elemental profile of
otoliths compared to truss measurements (72.3%). The truss
network analysis distinguished separate stocks of fish in the 3 rivers;
however, the elemental profile of otoliths further discriminated the
stocks at the 2 sampling stations within the Ganga River.
Key words: Stock structure, Heteropneustes fossilis, Truss morphometry,
Otolith chemistry, Indian rivers.
*Correspondence: Tel: 91-9457007109.
E-mail:khanmafzal@yahoo.com
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