author(s)
Mudasir Maqsood Hakim, Milind Sawant, Ravindra Pawar, Shafat Hussain and Anil Pawase

abstract
Morphometric analysis of Nemipterus japonicus (Bloch) was studied along the west coast of India by using conventional approach. A total 435 fish samples were collected from six geographical locations viz., Veraval, Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Panaji, Malpe and Cochin representing five states along the west coast of India. Total 15 homologous landmarks to get 16 linear distances were used for the stock structure analysis. Multivariate statistical methods of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) effectively segregated the fish populations. Both PCA and DFA distinctly identified Ratnagiri and Cochin stocks from the remaining populations. PC1 accounted for 95.25% of total variation. The DFA method correctly classified 92.3% of original grouped cases and 90.5% of cross-validated grouped cases. Thus, morphometric analysis showed the existence of Ratnagiri and Cochin as separate stocks and mixing for Veraval, Mumbai, Panaji and Malpe stocks.