Morphological diversity of Cyprinion Heckel, 1843 species (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in Iran

This work aimed to study some meristic and morphometric variations among Cyprinion of Iran to find new morphological differences and phenotype plasticity among them. Specimens of six reported species were collected from five Iranian inland water basins. 10 meristics were counted, 12 morphometric were measured and 17 ratios were calculated. The multivariate analysis of variance/canonical variate analysis was used for group comparisons. The meristic and morphometric characters of C. microphthalmum and C. watsoni were widely overlapping and could not distinguish the species. In case of C. kais, it is distinguished from others by having the least head depth, the largest body depth at dorsal fin origin, the most dorsal fin base length/SL, the most pectoral fin length/SL and the most dorsal fin height/SL ratios. Cyprinion milesi is a very distinct species from other congeners based on having the largest head height/body depth, the least body depth/SL, the least dorsal fin base length/SL, the least pectoral fin length/SL and the least dorsal fin height/SL ratios.