Sagittal otolith morphology and biometric relationships of three snakehead species from the upper Brahmaputra Basin, India

Abstract

Morphometrics of sagittal otolith of three snakeheads species; Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793), Channa gachua (Hamilton, 1822) and Channa striata (Bloch, 1793) from the upper Brahmaputra Basin, India were investigated. The study revealed variations in otolith sizes and shapes among the three species. Largest sagittal otolith was observed in C. striata followed by C. punctata and C. gachua. Evaluation of relationships of total length and fish weight with sagittal length, width and mass indicated that all the three species are inclined towards a particular otolith morphometric character. The findings of the present study provides novel morphological as well as biometric data for predicting the length and weight of the fishes which may serve as important identification tool for the fishes along with the associated morphometric characters.