Morphometric and Meristic Characteristics of an Endemic Lagusia Micracanthus Bleeker, 1860 in the Rivers of Maros and Walanae Cenranae Watersheds

Pirik (Lagusia micracanthus Bleeker, 1860) is one of endemic fishes in Sulawesi. Morphometric and meristic infor-mation of Pirik population in various habitats are unknown. The present study aimed to determine the morphometric and meristic variations of Pirik in Maros and Walanae Cenranae Watersheds. Sampling collection was carried out monthly from May 2018 to April 2019 in the Maros watershed, namely Pattunuang River (M1), Bantimurung River (M2), Pucak River (M3); and in Walanae Cenranae watershed particularly in Camba River (W1), Sanrego River (W2), and Ompo River (W3). Morphometric measurements consisted of 31 characters and meristic measurements consisted of 10 characters. Morphometric data was standardized by dividing all morphometric characters by standard length (SL). Analysis of vari­ance (ANOVA) and discriminant analysis (Discriminant Function Analysis) were applied for data analysis. The results showed that the Pirik taken from rivers in the Maros and Walanae Cenranae watershed are two different population groups. There are 12 distinguishing morphometric features for Pirik of the Maros and Walanae Cenranae watershed, i.e. TL (total length), SL (standard length), BDdSA (body depth-dorsal fin origin), HL (head length), Jlup (upper-jaw length), PAfL (pre-anal fin length), ABL (Anal fin base length), PelRL (pelvic ray length), AFRL (anal fin ray length), CPL (caudal peduncle length), CLLup (upper caudal lobe length) and CLLmid (mid-caudal length). There is no significant difference of meristic characters of Pirik obtained from the Maros and Walana