International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2014): 5.611 Volume 5 Issue 1, January 2016 www.ijsr.net Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Sexual Dimorphism of Morphometrics and Meristics of Carangoides Bajad (Forsskål, 1775) and Caranx Melampygus (Cuvier, 1833) from the Southern Red Sea, Egypt Usama M. Mahmoud 1 , Sahar F. Mehanna 2 , Ashraf S. Mohammad 2 1 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt 2, 3 National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Egypt Running Title: Sexual dimorphism of morphometrics and meristics of some Carangid Species Abstract: In the present investigation, discrimination between sexes in each of Carangoides bajad and Caranx melampygus from the Red Sea of Egypt was possible by using morphometric indices. The type of size allometry in each of males and females of the two aforementioned species was estimated according to the bivariate concept. No sexual dimorphism was observed in the meristics of each of Carangoides bajad and Caranx melampygus under investigation. Keywords: Morphometrics, Meristics, sexual dimorphism, Carangoides bajad, Caranx melampygus, Carangidae, Red Sea, Egypt. 1. Introduction Morphometric characters of fishes were found to be of taxonomic importance in sex, race and species identification by many investigators (Haug and Fevolden, 1986; Mekkawy, 1987, 1994; Khalil et al., 1982, 1984; Mahmoud, 1988, 1991, 1993; Harabawy, 1993, 2002; Oliveira and Almada, 1995; Osman, 2000; Costa et al., 2003; Obady, 2003; Smith and Paulin, 2003; Basmidi, 2004; Turan, 2004; Lawson, 2010; Simon et al., 2010; Elamin et al., 2011; Mekkawy and Mohammad, 2011; Mazlan et al., 2012; Deepti et al., 2013; Sajina et al., 2013; Jawad, 2015; Masood et al., 2015 and Zubia et al., 2015). The meristic characters were also found to be valid in sex, race and species identification (Mahmoud and Mekkawy, 1991; Mahmoud, 1991, 1993, 2002; Mekkawy, 1991, 1997; Costa et al., 2003; Obady, 2003; Basmidi, 2004; Turan, 2004; Lawson, 2010; Simon et al., 2010; Mekkawy and Mohammad, 2011; Mazlan et al., 2012; Sajina et al., 2013; Masood et al., 2015 and Zubia et al., 2015). In the present investigation, the morphometric and meristic characters were used to elucidate sexual dimorphism of Carangoides bajad, (Forsskål, 1775), and Caranx melampygus, (Cuvier, 1833) from the Southern Red Sea of Egypt. 2. Materials and Methods Morphometrics: In the present investigation, 102 males (180 – 475 mm in Standard Length (SL) and 83 females (191 – 475 mm in SL) of Carangoides bajad and 71 males (147 – 507 mm in SL) and 53 females (156 – 503 mm in SL) of Caranx melampygus were randomly collected from the southern Red Sea, at Elba National Park (Shalateen fishing port) 520 Km southern of Hurghada, Egypt during the period from January 2014 to December 2014. For each fish, 23 morphometric measurements were made on the left side up to the nearest millimeter using a divider and a measuring board. The following is a list of these measurements which are diagrammatically represented in Figure 1; each measurement is labeled on this figure by its corresponding number indicated in such a list. Those morphometric measurements included: 1. Total length (TL). 2. Fork length (FL). 3. Standard length (SL). 4. Body depth (BD). 5. Head length (HL). 6. Eye diameter (EyD). 7. Snout length (SnL). 8. Postorbital length (POL). 9. Upper jaw length (UJL). 10. Curved lateral line segment length (CLL). 11. Straight lateral line segment length (SLL). 12. Soft dorsal fin base length (SDFL). 13. Soft anal fin base length (SAFL). 14. Soft dorsal fin height (SDFH). 15. Soft anal fin height (SAFH). 16. Pectoral fin length (PFL). 17. Distance between the first soft dorsal fin ray and the first soft anal fin ray (SDSAFL). 18. Distance between anal and dorsal fin insertions (ADFEL). 19. Distance between the first spine of the dorsal fin and the first soft anal fin ray (SpDASFL). 20. Distance between the first soft dorsal fin ray and ventral fin origin (SDVOFL). 21. Distance between the first soft dorsal fin ray and the insertion of anal fin (SDEAFL). Paper ID: NOV152695 448