Morphometric features of topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846) in the Hirfanlı Reservoir, Turkey

Morphometric measurements are widely used to identify differences between fish populations (Cheng et al., 2005). Fish morphology means anatomical design among fish species. Body architecture can be discussed in terms of the characteristic depth, predation style and other swimming specializations required for the survival success of a given species (Hogan, 2007). The topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva is a small cyprinid in the freshwaters of Japan, China, Korea and the River Amur. It was described originally from Nagasaki Japan, holotype (Eschemeyer, 2003). Topmouth gudgeon, P. parva (Temmick & Schlegel, 1842) is a highly invasive species in Europe (Gozlan et al., 2002). It has environmental tolerance to low oxygen, organic pollution, and even concentrations of pesticides that are lethal to other fish species (Allen et al., 2006). The life story flexibility of successful invaders may be also be associated with their potential for great morphological plasticity (Zahorska et al., 2009, Novomeska et al., 2013). P. parva have negative impact on the negative fish fauna via competition spawning area, food and other resources (Ekmekçi et al., 2013). There are many studies on various features of P. parva at national and international (Erk’akan, 1984, Wildekamp et al., 1997, Cakic et al., 2004, Ekmekçi & Kırankaya, 2006; Britton et al., 2007; Boltachev, 2006; Karabanov et al., 2010; Wang et al., 2012; Patimar & Baensaf, 2012; Huo et al., 2012; Tarkan et al., 2014; Kırankaya et al., 2014; Kapusta et al., 2014; Tarkan et al., 2015; İlhan & Sarı 2015; Carosi et al., 2016; Benzer et al., 2016; Bakaç et al., 2017; Benzer 2018; Benzer & Benzer 2019) in the different locations. This paper describes the area where this fish was found and recorded morphometric data of the population in Hirfanlı Reservoir.


Introduction
Morphometric measurements are widely used to identify differences between fish populations (Cheng et al., 2005). Fish morphology means anatomical design among fish species. Body architecture can be discussed in terms of the characteristic depth, predation style and other swimming specializations required for the survival success of a given species (Hogan, 2007).
The topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva is a small cyprinid in the freshwaters of Japan, China, Korea and the River Amur. It was described originally from Nagasaki Japan, holotype (Eschemeyer, 2003). Topmouth gudgeon, P. parva (Temmick & Schlegel, 1842) is a highly invasive species in Europe (Gozlan et al., 2002). It has environmental tolerance to low oxygen, organic pollution, and even concentrations of pesticides that are lethal to other fish species (Allen et al., 2006). The life story flexibility of successful invaders may be also be associated with their potential for great morphological plasticity (Zahorska et al., 2009, Novomeska et al., 2013. P. parva have negative impact on the negative fish fauna via competition spawning area, food and other resources (Ekmekçi et al., 2013).

Study area
The study was carried out in Hirfanlı Reservoir (Fig. 1), which was constructed in 1959, on river Kızılırmak, 70 km far from the south of Kırıkkale. It is located at 856 m altitude with a capacity of 7.63 x 109 m 3 and an area of 320 km 2 . The depth, length and width of the lake are 58 m, 90 and 15 km, respectively. It is 24 km far from Ankara Kırşehir Highway and 30 km from Ankara-Adana highway (DSI, 1968).

Result and discussion
In this research, some morphometric characters were examined and the minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation values are given in Table 1. Measurements and counts of the 25 specimens are given Table 1. Total lengths and body weights of the examined specimens ranged 4.10 and 9.30 cm; 0.600 and 7.137 g respectively.
It appear that both the adult phenotype and the pattern of development in introduced P. parva can, in general, be highly influenced by local conditions because the morphology and the ecology presented by an organism have been shown to be directly or indirectly under the influence of the environmental conditions that the organism experiences and its heritable composition (Norton et al., 1995).
The difference may be caused by differences in morphological features of the species and habitats. In general, topmouth gudgeon popultions show considerable variation in external morphology, which is not only evident in European populations but also in its native range (Gozlan et al., 2010). It would be expected that populations from different latitudes and/or habitats show significant morphological variability, but differences were also found between populations from the same region (Zahorska et al., 2009). This variability can be expressed not only in the formation of different adult phenotypes but also in the manner with which the phenotypes are achieved. In general, the temperature regime has a considerable influence on life histories and extreme temperatures are known to affect various traits, from morphology (Sumer et al., 2005).
P. parva indivuduals prefers wide, varied environments with abundant food sources, in shallow regions and regions with dense vegetation (Kapusta et al., 2008). It was reported that P. parva transmits fatal diseas to native fish fauna, limits the reproduction of the endangered native fish species, and influences the decline of native fish species (Ekmekçi & Kırankaya, 2006).

Conclusion
This paper describes the area where this fish was found and recorded morphometric data of the population. Findings obtained in this study are very important because the previous studies about the morphometric properties of P. parva have not been found. It is considered that the data obtained in this study will also contribute to future studies.