Osteological characterization of the genus Puntius (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) recorded from six river systems of southern Western Ghats, India

This paper provides information on the osteological characterization of the genus Puntius with respect to six river systems of Southern Western Ghats. Fishes were collected using cast net, dip net, gill net and drag net from various streams and rivers of Southern Western Ghats. Clearing and staining methods was carried out for osteological study. After clearing and double staining, the specimens were observed under a stereomicroscope and photographed using a digital camera. Twenty-nine morphometric and meristic osteology characters were taken. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were performed to group the species and to detect the similarity between the species. Comparing all the species it was observed that the species were grouped into three groups. The first class has 10 species P. mahecola, P. chola, P. bimaculatus, P. dorsalis, P. melanampyx, P. fasciatus, P. ticto, P. denisonii, P. sophore, P. conchonius. The second class has 4 species; P. filamentous, P. sarana spirulus, P.amphibious and P. ophicephalus. The third class has only one species P. carnaticus well supporting the observations of Shantakumar & Vishwanath (2006).