Comparative Study of Sagittal Otolith Morphometry with Fish Size between 4 Species of Genus Puntius (Hamilton, 1822) of Family Cyprinidae from Ganga River, India

This study was conducted to determine inter-specific and intra- specific relationship of otolith morphometry of Genus Puntius i.e. Puntius ticto, Puntius sophore, Puntius muzaffarpurensis and Puntius conchonius. Linear regression model was applied to correlate the otolith morphometry with fish morphometry and it showed strong and positive relationship between total fish length with otolith length, otolith breadth and fish mass with otolith mass. NIS Element D5.10.00 64-bit imaging software was used to measure the length and breadth of otolith of each species studied (Puntius ticto, Puntius sophore, Puntius muzaffarpurensis and Puntius conchonius). To find the discrimation if any between left and right sagittal otolith t-test (p>0.05) was used and it showed no significant difference. Puntius ticto showed largest otolith as otolith length and otolith breadth is 0.13% and 0.10% respectively of the total fish length while Puntius sophore showed smallest otolith as otolith length and otolith breadth is 0.10% and 0.08% respectively of the total fish length among the group of four species investigated of genus Puntius. This study deals with detailed study of otoliths of Puntius fishes, which would be helpful as a taxonomic tool in identification of species of genus Puntius. Results showed that otolith morphometry is an important index to predict the fish size, fish stock monitoring, fish stock identification, systematic study of fishes. This is applicable in various dimensions of Ichthyology, fishery management, fish biology and paleontological studies.