Acta Scientifica Balcanica, 2020, 1(2) DOI: 10.7251/SKP201102035B UDC: 591.9:597.552.51 Review paper 35 GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRY IN ICHTHYOLOGICAL RESEARCH Alen Bajrić 1* , Amna Sakić 1 , Edina Hajdarević 1 , Avdul Adrović 1 , Isat Skenderović 1 , Dragojla Golub 2 1 University of Tuzla, Faculty Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Urfeta Vejzagica 4, 75000 Tuzla, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Mladena Stojanovica 2, 78000 Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina *Corresponding Author: alenbajra@gmail.com Summary Classical morphometry has long been used as a standard method in the studies of morphometric characteristics of organisms. However, in the last two decades of 21 century, the application of geometric morphometry has increased rapidly because of advances in quantitative biological shape analysis. Its development is accompanied by the development of new technologies, primarily computer software. Geometric morphometry can be defined as a fusion of geometry, biology and computer science, and enables the study of biological forms in two-dimensional or three-dimensional space. Morphometric characters indicate the body proportions as well as the proportions of individual body parts that are measured using certain measurement units. The aim of this paper is to present geometric morphometry and explain its application in ichthyological research, and point out its advantages and possibilities, in a practical way. Key words: geometric morphometry, ichthyology, bioinformatics, integrated taxonomic approaches INTRODUCTION Morphology is one of the oldest biological disciplines, which basically includes describing morphological units, their comparative study or comparison, understanding morphological units in relation to their function, then drawing conclusions, and determining the nature of connections between morphological units (Ivanović and Kalezić, 2009). In recent decades, great progress has been made in the field of morphometry, based on the application of geometric morphometry in various fields of research such as systematics and evolutionary biology (Webster and Sheets, 2010). The advantage and popularity of geometric morphometry is contained in the possibility of geometric representation of a large number of data that are easier to understand. This technique has a high statistical sensitivity, which means that it can detect small changes in morphological forms, which could not be determined using classical morphometry (Klingenberg, 2002).