Interrelationships among the species of the genus puntius (teleostei, cyprinidae) as indicated by the meristic and morphological characters

Abstract

The studies of two morphological and fifteen meristic characters of twelvespecies of Puntius showed that the most successful characters in separating'species were the counts of gill rakers, lateral line scales, vertebrae and pectoralrays. The other characters are less successful. The number of spines andrays of anal and pelvic fins are constant in the genus. Based on the 17 charactersstudied the twelve species of Puntius fall into three clusters: one containing'five species, the other containing two species and the third cluster with five':species. The species of the first two clusters were associated with higher meris-, tic characters, presence of barbels and complete lateral line. The species ofthe third cluster were associated with low meristic features and they werewithout barbels with the exception of one species with two barbels. Fourspecies of the third cluster contained with incomplete lateral line whilethe other one had a complete lateral line.