Morphological variation among four strains of common carp Cyprinus carpio in Croatia Tomislav TREER1*, Roman SAFNER1, Ivica ANIČIĆ1, Andrea KOLAK1 and Maja DRAŽIĆ2 1Department of Fisheries, Beekeeping and Special Zoology, Faculty of Agriculture University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska 25, 10 000 Zagreb Croatia;e-mail:treer@agr.hr 2Department for Data Processing, Croatian Livestock Selection Centre, Kačićeva 9/III, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia Received 2 April 1998; Accepted… A b s t r a c t . Variation in morphology among four strains of common carp in Croatia (436 specimens) was expressed using variance (ANOVA) and cluster analyses. Three sets of data were compared: truss network, traditional plastic and meristic data. The results of cluster analyses were very similar for all three data sets and were supported by ANOVA of plastic and meristic characters. The strains differ significantly (ANOVA, P<0.05) in up to 6 plastic and one meristic characters from all the others. It appears that there are still some distinctive strains (one of them being from Našice farm), but also that the lost of identity exists, probably due to uncontrolled crossbreeding and insufficient selection work. Furthermore, these results confirm the usefulness of the three morphologic methods in ichthyological research, as they all gave the similar results in differentiating the strains. Key words: morphological traits, strains, plastic characters, meristic characters, truss network. * Corresponding author Introduction The culture of common carp (Cyprinus carpio f. domestica) in Croatia developed considerably at the turn of 19th to 20th century. The first carp stocks were introduced primarily from Germany and other parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire (presently Czech Republic and Hungary). During the decades, with greater or lesser intensity the efforts on selection evolved into well-known Našice and Poljana strains, which are kept in the live gene bank in Szarvas (Treer & Kolak 1994; Gorda et al. 1995). The hybrids between Našice and Israeli Dor-70 strains happen to be the most successful crossbreeds in Israel (Wohlfarth & Moav, 1990). However, following discussions at a Budapest conference and due to uncontrolled crossbreeding, Flajšhans & Gall (1995) supposed that the Našice strain had disappeared from its original fish-farm. Although artificial propagation helped the uncontrolled mixing of strains, with young of the year from one farm being sold to several others, the fish farmers tried to keep their own stocks (Treer et al. 1996). The purpose of the present study was to undertake a preliminary examination of the differences in Croatia using three types of morphological methods in ichthyology - traditional plastic, truss network and meristic ones, using cluster analysis. Material and Methods The fish were taken from the following fish farms: Našice, Grudnjak, Končanica and Draganići. These farms are situated in eastern, central and western parts of the Croatian section of the Pannonian valley. The semi-intensive way of culturing carps is characteristic of all of these farms. In fact, it resembles that developed in Hungary and other central European countries (Horvath et al. 1985a; Horvath et al. 1985b). A total of 436 marketable carp were collected during the winter harvest season in February 1993. The fact that the gonads had not been yet fully developed reduced their influence in discriminant function analysis. The number of carp sampled from each farm was: Našice 110, Grudnjak 101, Končanica 109 and Draganići 116. The carp were in their third year of life, with the following structure of sexes and scalification types among the strains: Našice (36 scaled males, 35 scaled females, 23 mirror males, 16 mirror females), Grudnjak (14 scaled males, 10 scaled females, 43 mirror males, 34 mirror females), Končanica (19 scaled males, 9 scaled females, 42 mirror males, 39 mirror females), Draganići (73 mirror males, 43 mirror females). Twenty-four traditional plastic measurements (1 mm) were made on each specimen (Table 1, Appendix 1), according to Baruš et al. (1998). To remove size effects, all body length measurements were adjusted to the ratios of standard length (SL), whereas the measurements of the head were adjusted to the ratios of head length. Measurements for truss network analysis (Bookstein et al., 1985) were made out of 30 distances between 16 homologous landmarks on the body outline (Fig. 1). In the third group of morphological parameters, seven meristic characters were counted (Table 2). Statistica for Windows (StatSoft, Inc. 1993) was used in order to perform statistical analyses. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) evaluates the traditional plastic and meristic characters measurements and the significant differences (P<0.05) among them. Cluster analysis was used to distinguish populations according to all three groups of morphological characters. We assumed that all plastic characters grow linearly for only a short part of a specimen’s life (Vilizzi & Walker 1999). Thus, the ratio of the particular character to the standard length (SL) or the head length (HL) is the same for the different sized fish from each locality. Therefore, we selected only the specimens of same age group for this study. Results and Discussion Combining the results of all three methods used, it is possible to differentiate the strains of common carp in Croatia and to explain the differences among them. In all three cases, cluster analysis distinguished three groups of carp - the first being Draganići, the second Grudnjak and the third one Našice and Končanica together, which appeared to be very close (Figs. 2, 3 and 4). The results of traditional plastic and meristic parameters were confirmed by the use of truss network. This method proved to be very useful in the differentiation of fish populations (Edge et al. 1991; Winemiller 1991), together with biochemical method (e.g. Karakousis et al. 1993; Li et al. 1993; Taniguchi et al. 1996). The truss network has the advantage over mere conventional sets of measurements that equal coverage is given to the entire body (Swain & Holtby 1989). However, great proportion of these differences is due to environmental conditions and disappear if two strains are cultured together (Swain et al. 1991). The strains of Draganići and Našice had 6 plastic parameters that differed significantly (ANOVA P<0.05) from all the others. The strain of Grudnjak differs in 2 of them and Končanica in none of them (Table 1). Only one of meristic variables in the strains of Draganići (no. of forked rays in D) and Našice (gill rakers) was significantly different from all the others (ANOVA P<0.05, Table 2). Despite indicating the lowest differences, meristic variables were of great importance because of their high heritability characteristics, which enable them to define different genetic origins (Tave 1993). The strain of Draganići expressed high separation from all the others. This fish farm is situated westernmost and is the most remote from the other three farms. It has well-organised hatchery which is a part of the Fishery Centre. Although cluster analysis showed great similarity between Našice and Končanica carp strains, the carp from Našice were significantly different from the other strains with respect to the number of gill rakers. This variable a has strong genetic base, and differences in its number suggest genetic separation among the strains (Lindsey et al. 1970; Loch 1974; Ihssen et al. 1981a,b). Našice farm is situated in the easternmost part of Croatia and also uses its own hatchery. Obviously, the original strain from this farm was maintained, although the efforts on selection were not very intensive. Hence, the great height-length ratio difference, typical for this strain, was slightly reduced through many generations. This character, which can be quickly changed by selection (Ankorion et al. 1992), is influenced by environmental conditions (Balon 1995) and transforms rapidly towards lower values if the carp are released or escape back to nature (Treer et al. 1995). However, the intention of keeping the height-length ratio high is obvious in all of the farmed strains of common carp in Croatia. As a proportion of SL, the values are: 0,440,03 for Draganići; 0,420,04 for Našice; 0,420,04 for Grudnjak and 0,420,03 for Končanica (Table 1). Although only Draganići strain differs significantly (P<0.05) from all the others, all four strains still fit into the up selects, according to Ankorion et al. (1992). The characteristics of the carp from Končanica were very close to those from Našice strain. Encircled by other farms geographically, for years the farm Končanica had the best organised hatchery in former Yugoslavia. However, after a flood about ten years ago, it was closed down. Since then, some natural spawning has been going on at that farm, but many of the young-of-the-year are being bought every year. The Končanica and Našice farms also belonged to the same organisation for many years. Although Grudnjak farm is in the neighbourhood of the Našice farm, its carp stock differs a great deal from other strains. That confirms the independent approach to culture and selection at this farm. The results of this study indicate that there are still some well-defined common carp strains in Croatia. On the other hand, uncontrolled mixing possibly made some strains disappear, as it probably happened with the stock of Končanica. Furthermore, these results confirm the usefulness of the three morphologic methods in ichthyological research, as they all gave the similar results in differentiating the strains. Baruš et al. (1998) stated the same conclusion, that the classical methods in biometry still provide many useful data, which could be used in co-ordination with more modern methods. Appendix 1. Codes and numbers for the plastic characters measured 1. standard length (SL), 2. fork length (FL), 3. total length (TL), 4. preanal distance (dPA), 5. preventral distance (dPV), 6. predorsal distance (dPD), 7. head length (HL), 8. V-A distance (V-A), 9. caudal peduncle length (LPC), 10. maximum body height (MBH), 11. minimum body height (mbH), 12. maximum body width (MbW), 13. minimum body width (mbW), 14. length of A (lA), 15. height of A (hA), 16. length of D (lD), 17. height of D (hD), 18. prepectoral distance (dPP), 19. length of V (lV), 20. preorbital distance (prOd), 21. postorbital distance (POd), 22. interorbital distance (iOd), 23. eye diameter horizontal (Edh), 24. head height (HH). LITERATURE ANKORION, Y., MOAV, R. & WOHLFARTH, G. W., 1992: Bidirectional mass selection for body shape in common carp. Genet. Sel. Evol., 24: 43-52. BALON, E. K., 1995: Origin and domestication of the wild carp, Cyprinus carpio: from Roman gourmets to the swimming flowers. 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HORVATH, L., TAMAS, G. & COCHE, A. G., 1985a: Common carp 1. Mass production of eggs and early fry. FAO Training Series, 8, pp. 87. HORVATH, L., TAMAS, G. & COCHE, A. G., 1985b: Common carp 2. Mass production of advanced fry and fingerlings in ponds. FAO Training Series, 9, pp. 85. IHSSEN, P.E., BOOKE, H.E., CASSELMAN, J.M., Mc GLADE, J.M., PAYNE, N.R. & UTTER, F.M., 1981a: Stock identification: Materials and methods. Can. J.Fish. Aquat. Sci., 38: 1838-1855. IHSSEN, P.,E., EVAS, D.O., CHRISTIE, W.J., RECKAHN, J.A. & Des JARDINE, R.L., 1981b: Life history, morphology and electrophoretic characteristics of five allopatric stocks of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in the Great Lakes region. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 38:1790-1807. KARAKOUSIS, Y., VARELI K., KOTSINAS A. & TRIANTAPHYLLIDIS C., 1993: Genetic characteristics of a perch (Perca fluviatilis) population from lake Volvi (Macedonia, Greece). Zool. Anz., 230: 131-136. LI, S., CAI, W. & ZHOU, B., 1993: Variation in morphology and biochemical genetic markers among populations of blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala). Aquaculture, 111: 117-127. LINDSEY, C.C., CLAYTON, J.W. & FRANZIN, W.G., 1970: Zoogeographic problems and protein variation in the Coregonus clupeaformis whitefish species complex. In: Lindsey, C.C. & Woods, C.S., (ed.); Biology of coregonid fishes. University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg: 127-146. LOCH, J.S., 1974: Phenotypic variation in the lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis, induced by introduction into a new environment. J.Fish. Res. Board Can., 31: 55-62. StatSoft, Inc., 1993: Statistica for Windows. Release 4.3. D. SWAIN, D.P. & HOLTBY, L.B., 1989: Differences in morphology and behavior between juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) rearing in a lake or in its tributary stream. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 46: 1406-1414. SWAIN, D.P., RIDDELl, B.E. & MURRAY, C.B., 1991: Morphological differences between hatchery and wild populations of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch): environmental versus genetic origin. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 48: 1783-1791. TANIGUCHI, N., YAMASAKI, M., TAKAGI, M. & TSUJIMURA, A., 1996: Genetic and environmental variances of body size and morphological traits in communally reared clonal lines from gynogenetic diploid ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis. Aquaculture, 140: 333-341. TAVE, D., 1993: Genetics for Fish Hatchery Managers. AVI, New York, 299 pp. TREER, T., ANIČIĆ, I. & SAFNER, R., 1995: The growth and conditions of common carps (Cyprinus carpio) introduced into Croatian Vransko lake. Ribarstvo, 53: 63-73. TREER, T. & KOLAK, A., 1994: The research in fish genetics in Croatia and former Yugoslavia. Ribarstvo, 52: 17-31. TREER, T., SAFNER, R., ANIČIĆ, I. & KOLAK, A., 1996: Pleiotropic effects of Ss gens for scaliness in common carp. Ribarstvo, 54: 149-154 (in Croatian, with a summary in English). VILIZZI, L. & WALKER K. F., 1999: Age and growth of the common carp, Cyprinus carpio, in the river Murray, Australia: validation, consistency of age interpretation, and growth models. Env. Biol. Fish., 54: 77-106 WINEMILLER, K.O., 1991: Ecomorphological diversification in lowland freshwater fish assemblages from five biotic regions. Ecological Monographs, 61: 343365. WOHLFARTH, G. W. & MOAV, R., 1990: Genetic differences between the Chinese and European races of the common carp. Theor. Appl. Genet., 79: 693-698. Table 1. Mean and standard deviation of measured traditional plastic characters of common carp. Končanica Draganići Grudnjak Našice (n = 109) (n = 116) (n = 101) (n = 110) TL 121.5 2.5 a 121.5 2.6 a 122.2 4.2 a 122.2 4.8 a FL 109.4 1.0a 109.8 1.0a 109.5 1.0a 109.8 3.0a Characters In % of standard length LPC 18.7 dPA 75.1 2.9bc 1.7 a 17.0 2.6b 76.4 2.8 a 3.4 a 18.6 18.6 3.0 a 75.5 3.0ab 74.4 2.3c lA 6.3 2.3b 6.6 1.1ab 5.9 1.7b 7.0 2.7a lV 3.7 0.6 a 3.8 1.8 a 3.6 0.8 a 3.9 0.9 a dPV 46.0 2.0 b 47.8 3.5 a 46.0 3.7 b 45.7 2.5 b HL 25.7 27.6 26.9 1.6b 26.0 1.7c lD 37.4 1.6ab 37.8 4.7a 36.3 2.6b 37.6 3.1a dPD 43.5 1.9 ab 44.4 4.6 a 44.4 2.0 a 43.1 2.5 b V-A 25.3 2.9 ab 24.8 3.3 b 25.9 3.5 a 24.8 2.5 ab dPP 25.1 27.7 25.9 2.5 b 25.2 2.1 b HH 22.4 1.3b 24.6 1.5a 22.4 2.3b 21.4 2.3c MBH 42.1 2.7 b 43.9 2.8 a 42.1 3.7 b 42.4 3.9 b hD 13.4 1.4 b 13.6 1.8 b 13.1 1.7 b 14.4 2.2 a mbH 15.0 15.0 15.1 1.2 a 15.0 1.0 a hA 12.0 1.4 c 12.5 1.6 c 13.4 2.4 b 14.9 2.8 a MbW 20.2 1.3 b 20.3 1.3 b 19.7 1.7 b 20.9 2.3 a mbW 5.7 0.6 b 1.7c 1.8 b 0.9 a 1.7a 2.8 a 0.8 a 6.3 0.7 ab 6.3 0.9 ab 6.7 4.8 a In % of head length POd 53.9 2.4 b 53.9 2.3 b 54.0 3.6ab 55.0 3.6 a prOd 26.2 26.5 26.6 24.5 3.0b HH 87.1 6.0a 89.1 6.0a 83.4 9.0b 82.6 10.0b iOd 47.7 3.0b 48.0 3.0b 48.3 4.0b 50.0 4.0a Edh 19.9 2.1 ab 19.6 2.5 ab 19.4 2.7 b 20.4 3.2 a 3.0a 3.0a 3.0a Means in the same row with different superscript letters are significantly different (P<0.05). Table 2. Mean and standard deviation of measured meristic characters of common carp. Končanica Draganići Grudnjak Našice (n = 109) (n = 116) (n = 101) (n = 110) 2.982 0.23a 2.957 0.33a 2.980 0.14a 2.936 0.39a 20.697 1.42b 21.353 1.30a 20.198 1.46b 20.355 1.91b No. of unforked rays in A 2.000 0.00a 1.991 0.09a 2.010 0.17a 2.027 0.16a No. of forked rays in A 5.835 0.42a.b 5.862 0.37a 5.723 0.49a.b 5.700 0.48b Characters No. of unforked rays in D No. of forked rays in D No. of forked rays in P No. of forked rays in V No. of gill rakers 15.367 0.72a.b 15.026 0.79b 15.287 1.17b 15.645 1.27a 8.761 0.53a 8.784 0.52a 8.792 0.59a 8.855 0.49a 30.415 1.89b 30.643 1.77b 30.074 2.08b 31.594 1.52a Means in the same row with different superscript letters are significantly different (P<0.05). Fig. 1. Truss network of distance measures applied to the common carp. Morphological landmarks are numbered and morphometric distances between landmarks are shown by thin solid lines. Fig. 2. Dendrogram of cluster analysis on four carp strains based on 24 traditional plastic characters. Fig. 3. Dendrogram of cluster analysis on four carp strains based on 7 meristic characters. Fig. 4. Dendrogram of cluster analysis on four carp strains based on 30 truss network distances.