Morphological differences were found among specimens of
Garra orientalis
from Minjiang River, Pearl River, Red River and Hainan Island. To confirm whether the morphological differences among these geographical populations had reached the level of subspecies or species, seventy-two specimens of
Garra orientalis were divided into four groups according to the four drainage areas stated above. Ten external morphological characteristics were observed. Thirteen frame characteristics and twenty-three general characteristics were measured and analyzed for multivariate morphometrics. In scatter plots of principal components, the specimens from Hainan Island were relatively concentrated on the scatter plots, but were not completely separated from the other three drainages. The samples from the other three drainages were completely mixed together. These results indicated that the specimens from the different drainages could not be distinguished by morphological comparison and morphometric analysis. Species or subspecies level differentiation of
Garra orientalis among geographical populations could instead be studied by molecular biological methods in the future.
