Morphometric And Mersitic Variation Of The Ikan Puyu (Anabas Testudineus) (Bloch, 1792) In Malaysia

The Ikan Puyu (Anabas testudineus) is one of the important indigenous fish species in Malaysia and famous for its delicious taste and flavour. However, this fish population has declined due to the overfishing, pesticides usage in agricultural runoff and deforestation. A morphometric study was conducted to retain the fish data for further conservation purposes. Approximately 75 fish sample were randomly collected from five regions of Malaysia (Pahang, Perak, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak). Prior to measurement, the fish were anesthetizing using benzocaine (ethyl-p-amino-benzoate) and then measured by ruler and being photographed. Fish appearance was macroscopically observed and morphometric features analyzed by conventional and truss network measurement. Data was subjected to One Way Analysis of Variance and discriminant function analyses (DFA). Results showed significant differences (p<0.05) in 14 features in A. testudineus for conventional measurement. There are significant differences (p<0.05) in anal fin ray for meristic counting and six landmarks for truss network measurement. Both conventional and truss measurements showed four DFA which DF1 with 63.7% and 55.4%, DF2 with 25.9% and 29.7%, DF3 with 7.6% and 12.5%, and DF4 with 2.7% and 2.4%, respectively, among group variability. DF plotting presented showed that the conventional measurement were significantly different among regions. There was a notable overlapping for the sample at region 1 and 2 based on truss network measurement finding suggested that there was intermixing among the populations. There were significantly different in morphometric features among five regions based on the statistical analyses due to the separated geographical sites and different environment. In conclusion, morphometric data of the A. testudineus would be beneficial as guidelines among communities in further conservation measure and fisheries management.