Caudal Skeleton Variations in Alburnoides Fish Species from Iranian Water Basins

Abstract

The species in the genus Alburnoides is distinguished based on having a combination of some morphological characteristics and different fin ray counts. Most descriptions are based on morphological characteristics and molecular approaches. The species are widely distributed in the Iranian basins. Since osteological structures of fishes provide major biological and ecological information, studying these structures is valuable. The present study was conducted to provide a caudal skeleton variations in Alburnoides fish species from Iran for the first time. For this purpose, three specimens of Alburnoides species were collected from different basins using the gill net (1mm) and electrofishing device and fixed in 10% buffered formalin. Then, the specimens were cleared and stained with alcian blue and alizarin red for osteological examination. Based on the results, several differences were observed among the species. The caudal shape comparison of Alburnoides species from the Inland water of Iran revealed some differences among them including the shape of the epural and rudimentary neural arch. However, ten species of Alburnoides, from Iran were not distinguishable based on these osteological characteristics.