Stock Structure Analysis of Channidae Family from River Sutlej in Punjab by using Truss Networking System

The present study was carried out to distinguish the phenotypic stocks of fish species under Channidae family from selected stretches of river Sutlej in Punjab based on morphometric variations using truss network system. Sampling was conducted at monthly intervals from three different sampling sites of Sutlej river i.e. Rupnagar, Ludhiana and Harike pattan from November 2020 to October 2021. A total of 120 specimen representing different age groups of three fish species under Channidae family (Channa striata, C. marulius and C. punctata) were analysed. Truss network was constructed by interconnecting 12 homogenous landmarks form 26 truss distances. tpsUtil32, tpsdig2 software packages were used to extract truss distances from digital photos of specimens. Under principal component analysis (PCA); PC1, PC2 and PC3 accounted 92.9, 3.5 and 1.2% variance in C. striata, whereas 86.3 7.2 and 6.5% variance was observed in , C. marulius. C. punctata accounted 44.8, 35.4 and 17.7% variance in PC1, PC2 and PC3, depicting highest and lowest variability in C. striata and in C. marulius, respectively. The study revealed no significant morphometric differences within species, indicating the presence of same phenotypic stock of Channa species in River Sutlej. The outcome of the study can be a scientific base for future selective breeding and river ranching programme.