Ecomorphology of Kura Berbel (Barbus cyri, De Filippi, 1865) in Sefidrud River Basine

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between body shape and environmental factors related to a rivarian ecosystem in Kura barbel (Barbus cyri) of the Sefidrud River basin. For this purpose, a number of 285 specimens were sampled from three rivers with different habitat properties including the Taleghan, Totkabon and Kloraz Rivers. The relationship between body shape (extracted using geometric morphometric method) of studied stocks with environmental parameters including depth, velocity, river width, slope of river, number of large stones of river bed, average diameter of stream bed ston, stream bed index, algae covers bed index and riparian vegetation cover index using with two-Blocks Partial Least Squares was investigated. The result showed a significant relationship between habitat factors and body shape in Kura barbel suggested depth, width, average diameter of stream bed as effective factors. The results of 2B-PLS revealed that body shape of kloraz, most part of Totkabon and Taleghan stoks have a deeper body, large head and deep caudal peduncle that are significantly related to more depth, lower velocity, lower width and more number of large stones of river bed, and individuals with with fusiform body shape with lower depth, smaller head, deeper caudal peduncle have significant relationship with higher velocity, more depth, greater width and river bed with smaller stones.

Keywords

• body shape
• environmental factors
• kura barbell
• sefidrud river basin
• 2b-pls