MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION OF GREY MULLET MUGIL CEPHALUS IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL POPULATIONS ALONG CHINA COAST

Morphological variations among four geographical populations of Mugil cephalus were analyzed using three multivariation analysis methods using 23 morphometric proportional parameters.The results of clusters analysis and principal component analysis show similar morphological characters within populations,despite that the morphology between northern and southern populations is quite different.The contribution of height and length of the chest and tail to the total variances is the greatest shown by principal component analysis;and the total discriminant accuracy is 99.1% indicated by discriminant analysis.All the results show the four populations can be identified using three multivariation analysis methods as among-population differences are obvious.