International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol.8, No.1, 1-7
3
asymmetry index was lower in
H. forskalii
(3.5%) compared to (5.1%) and (4.9%) in
H. vittatus
and
H. brevis
,
respectively. In
H. vittatus
41% of then measured morphological characters fluctuated to the right side and 59% to
left side. In
H. brevis
50% fluctuated to the right side and 50% to left side, while in
H. forskalii
34% fluctuated to
the right and 66% fluctuated to the left side.
Absolute asymmetry values were significantly correlated with character size for the number of lateral line scales,
head length, pectoral fin length and ventral fin length (Spearman correlation, P>0.05) and highly correlated for
snout length and caudal peduncle length (Pearson correlation, P>0.001) in the three species. By Spearman and
Pearson correlations between means of bilateral characters and standard length, we found pelvic fin length (r
2
=
0.7), head length (r
2
= 0.6), pectoral spine length (r
2
= 0.6), snout length (r
2
= 0.5) and ventral fin length (r
2
= 0.5)
of the three species to be positively influenced by standard length, P < 0.05.
Figure 1 Mean asymmetry index (R-L/R) % of metric characters for individuals of
H. vittatus
(1),
H. brevis
(2) and
H. forskalii
(3)
Figure 2 Mean asymmetry index (R-L/R) % of meristic characters for individuals of
H. vittatus
(1),
H. brevis
(2) and
H. forskalii
(3)
-12
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
HL
ED
POL
SNL
PFL
VFL
PVFL
PSL
CPL
%
fish 1 fish2 fish3
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
PFR
LLS
DLS
VLS
GR
%
fish 1 fish2 fish3
