STUDY ON THE MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AVAILABLE GOBIIDAE FAMILY FISHES IN CHATTOGRAM COAST

Abstract

One of the most famous fish’s families for consumption in Chattogram coast is Gobiidae family but no such work was done on this specific family in this coast before. So, variations among different species under the Gobiidae family was investigated using morphometric and meristic characters. A detailed one year (February 2019 to January 2020) long survey considering 2 months of ban periods (June-July 2019) was done for checking out the available Gobiidae in the Chattogram coast, including three stations. Two stations in Chattogram metropolitan area (Patenga and Kattoli) and one in Cox's Bazar. Morphometric data collected from the survey went through the statistical analysis of correlation and simple regression (intra-species) and independent sample T-test and dendrogram (inter-species). In total, eight species and a genus under the Gobiidae family could be able to find out. After every sampling, initially samples were sorted into different group on the basis of visual examination, then the morphological process confirmed species of different sorted group. From every sample, nine morphological data (length) and six meristic counts were collected for statistical analysis and for generating a fin formula for each species. A detailed morphological study to differentiate among closely related species was the study's basis. The frequency of availability of Psedapocryptes elongates was the most among the species both in stations and months. Some species such as Apocryptes bato, Odontamblyopus rubicundus, and Acentrogobius sp. were found less frequently. Odontamblyopus rubicundus and Taenioides buchanani showed the most significant mean difference with Psedapocryptes elongates in the T-test. Within species, all species were more than 90% correlated. Gobiidae family might influence the environment, the economy because of being the diverse fish family, and this study was an initial step towards this process. Further scientific experiment on Gobiidae family can use this study as baseline experiment.