[01] Fahime Azizi, Dept. of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, SowmehSara, Guilan, Iran. [02] Hossein Anvarifar, Dept. of fisheries, Faculty Animal Science and Fisheries, University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Sari, Iran. [03] Hamed Mousavi-Sabet, Dept. of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, SowmehSara, Guilan, Iran.

A 12-landmark morphometric truss network system and 12 meristic characters were used to investigate the hypothesis differentiation of Alburnoides eichwaldii populations in upstream and downstream of the Shahid-Rajaei dam on the Tajan River, one of the most important habitats for the species in the southern Caspian Sea region. Analysis of variance showed significant differences between the two groups of 16 out of 67standardized measurement in truss and 5 out of 16meristic. Discriminant function analysis, proportion of individuals was correctly classified into their original groups as 79% and 78.0% for truss and meristic, respectively. The spirlin populations occupied different areas on canonical variates analysis scatter plot. Cluster analysis based on Euclidean distances among groups of centroids using UPGMA did not separate the two populations. Principal Component analysis separated the groups into distinct populations; though there was moderate overlap between two localities. The results of this survey demonstrated that Shahid-Rajaee dam could effectively create two morphologically different populations upstream and downstream of the dam. Also, this differentiation showed higher in morphometric measurements than meristic traits.

Population Differentiation, Truss Network System, Meristic, Caspian Sea, Iran

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