The Morphological Variability of the Japanese Smelt Hypomesus nipponensis McAllister, 1963 (Osmeriformes, Osmeridae) from the Far East.

The intra- and inter-population variability in the number of soft rays of pectoral and ventral fins and in the number of postorbital and infraorbital bones was studied using ten samples of the Japanese smelt (Hypomesus nipponensis McAllister, 1963). In addition to the mean values of these characters, such parameters as the variance of fluctuating asymmetry and the coefficient of variation of characters were also used, which eventually increased the number of differences between the samples by many times. This allowed a better assessment of both the intra- and inter-population variability and determination of the level of morphological differences for each sample, thereby emphasizing its uniqueness. The major explanation for the large number of differences in the variance of fluctuating asymmetry and the coefficient of variation between the samples is the inconsistency of their values between the characters in most samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]