Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

IDENTIFICATION OF MULLET OF RATNAGIRI BASED ON OSTEO- LOGICAL CHARACTERS

S.K. Barve, D.R. Jalihal, M.M. Shirdhankar, R. Pai, and M.N. Narvekar

Abstract

Mullets are one of the most difficult and confusing groups of fishes owing to their highly variable and overlapping characters. In the present study a special emphasis is given to the osteological characters because they do not alter much with growth. Osteological characters such as Second vertebra,Third vertebra,Tenth vertebra, Eleventh vertebra, Basioccipital and Maxilla were used. Based on the above characters six species of mullets belonging to five genera have been identified.