Background: Small pelagic species like white sardine gained importance due to their high demand in local markets over years has become important to sustainably harvest the available resources. Thus, the current study was aimed to decipher... more
Background: Small pelagic species like white sardine gained importance due to their high demand in local markets over years has become important to sustainably harvest the available resources. Thus, the current study was aimed to decipher the stock structure studies based on chemometric analysis of natural signature fatty acid profile which plays an important role in stock identification to the formulation of better sustainable management plans and its conservation. Methods: Samples of Escualosa thoracata were collected from four locations each from two on the east coast (Chennai and Kolkata) and west coast (Mumbai and Kochi) of the Indian peninsula 2019-2020. Heart tissue from the specimen from each location was collected, preserved and fatty acid profiling was performed. The analysis comprised methanolysis, gas chromatography and multivariate statistics. Result: The profile showed a difference between southern and northern populations on both the coast. The trend was more obvious ...
A total of thirty-one morphometric and meristic characters were measured, counted and compared among the species along with their respective proportions, like standard length and head length. Among ten meristic characters, six did not... more
A total of thirty-one morphometric and meristic characters were measured, counted and compared among the species along with their respective proportions, like standard length and head length. Among ten meristic characters, six did not show any difference. However, four characters viz. number of gillrakers, black spot on 1st dorsal fin, increasing size of backwardly directed lateral line spines towards posterior end and preopercular spine revealed variations. The proportional measurements with their head length (HL) viz. snout length: head length (SnL: HL, Inter orbital width: head length (IOL: HL), and maximum eye diameter: head length (MED: HL) also revealed significant difference among the species.
