Morphological Variability of the Aspius aspius taeniatus (Eichwald, ۱۸۳۱) in the Southern Caspian Sea Basin

 Traditional morphometric measurements and meristic counts were used to investigate the hypothesis of population fragmentation of Mash mahi, Aspius aspius taeniatus (Eichwald, ۱۸۳۱) among two fishing areas in southern Caspian Sea basin(Tonekabon:۳۲ specimens  and Sari:۳۴ specimens ). Univariate analysis of variance showed significant differences between the means of the two groups for ۱۲ out of ۲۶ standardized morphometric measurement and three out of nine meristic counts. In discriminant function analysis (DFA), the proportion of individuals correctly classified into their original groups was ۸۲.۱% and ۶۱.۲% for morphometric and meristic characteristics, respectively. Clustering based on Euclidean distances among groups of centroids using an UPGMA and also principal component analysis’ results (PCA) for morphometric and meristic data indicated that two samples of Mash mahi were distinct from each other in these regions, while there were a relatively high degree of overlap between two locations.