Morphometric variation and molecular characterization of snow trout species from Kashmir valley, India

Abstract

There is a significant taxonomic ambiguity among snow trout species due to their morphometric similarities. In view of this, a morphometric and molecular study was conducted on five different species of genus Schizothorax that have been reported from Kashmir valley. Morphometric data analyzed using multivariate statistics (Principal component analysis and cluster analysis) indicated the significant grouping of species to individual clusters. Mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene analysis revealed 0.2%-4.5% genetic divergence among the five species. This study confirms that utility of cytochrome oxidase I in species delineation along with morphometric data. Phylogenetic tree obtained using Neighbor-Joining method revealed that all the five species represented distinct species group. The Schizothorax genus formed two distinct clades; one containing S. niger, S. curvifrons and S. plagiostomus, while other clade containing S. esocinus and S. labiatus. This phlogeny trend was also supported by cluster analysis of morphometric characters. The phylogenetic analysis with other published COI sequences revealed distinct nature of these five species. The study may aid in the taxonomic identification of snow trout species in India. This may further increase the knowledge of the ichthyologists in planning conservation and management strategies for these important fish species along with their natural habitat.