Study of Some Morphometric and Meristic Characters of Saddle Grunt Fish, Pomadasys maculatus (Bloch, 1793), off Karachi Coast, Pakistan

In morphometry of Pomadasys maculatus, the total length was recorded as 79 mm to 220 mm while mean total length was 162.72 mm in male, whereas total body length in female recorded as 82 mm to 219 mm while mean total length was 173.36. Mean body weight in male was 69.88g, while mean body weight in female was 84.52g. Mean value of Head length in percentage of total body length was found to be 25.32 and snout length was found to be 7.92, Mean value of eye diameter was found as 7.51 and mean value of caudal peduncle length was recorded as 10.07 in male. In female specimens the mean value of Head length in percentage of total body length was found to be 25.87 and snout length was found to be 8.26, mean eye diameter was found as 7.94 and mean value of caudal peduncle length was recorded as 10.49. The meristic characters like dorsal fin rays, anal fin rays, Lateral line scales, gill rakers on lower arm and scales in transversal line were counted. No sexual dimorphism was found in Pomadasys maculatus. In the present study the average total length of females were 152.47 mm TL and the average total length of males were 151.95 mm TL.