Morphometric Relationships among the Clariid Fishes of the Lake Victoria Basin, Tanzania

Abstract

Six hundred and fifty-eight specimens of the Clariidae were collected from seven localities in the Lake Victoria basin and the Malagarasi wetland, Tanzania. A total of three hundred unadjusted morphometric measurements and meristic counts were analysed with the aim of assessing the adequacy of morphometric technique to delineate the clariid species occurring in theLake Victoriabasin. Results showed that morphometrics augmented by multivariate analysis (PCA, DCA and cluster analysis) amalgamated the clariid fishes into three groups, the Clarias alluaudi / C. werneri , C. gariepinus / C. liocephalus and Clariallabes petricola . Although other workers have used this technique, the present study concluded that, standing alone morphometrics is not a substitute for external morphology in the identification of clariid fish species, as it failed to separate the clariids into their respective taxonomic species. The technique, however, insinuates the regressional morphological relationships among the clariids occurring in the Lake Victoria basin.