Stock structure analysis of Yellow striped goatfish, Upeneus vittatus (Forsskal, 1775) based on truss morphometric analysis along the Indian coast

In the present study, 347 specimens of Yellow striped goatfish, Upeneus vittatus were collected from the three locations along the Indian Coast from October 2018 to March 2019. The truss matrix was developed by interconnecting the 13 morphological landmarks, which form different triangles and rectangles to form 26 truss variables. All the transformed truss measurements data were subjected to factor analysis and discriminant function analysis. The factor analysis indicated first three factors together, showing 73.43% of the total variations. The first factor exhibited meaningful loading on the straight and oblique depth measurements of the anterior half and middle part of the fish body. In contrast, the second factor showed significant loadings on the fish body's posterior part (caudal peduncle region). Further, cross-validation from discriminant function analysis revealed an overall 86.69% successful classification, where the well-classified stock was from Odisha (93.93%), followed by Mumbai (82.50%) and Kakinada (82.14%). The finding indicates the existence of two separate stocks of U. vittatus in the west and east coast of India.