Abstract

• The present study was conducted by observing landmark-based morphometric variation of the two snakeheads, Channa panaw and Channa striata of family Channidae from the same stock of Bago river, Yangon Region. A total of 20 specimens of each of two Channa species were collected during December 2019 to March 2020. Set up the ten morphological landmarks and twenty one truss distances were measured. The significance of morphological differences of study species were carried out analysis of variance (ANOVA). Significantly differences were found in twenty one truss measurements (p < 0.001) were observed. Wilkˈs lambda of discriminant functional analysis, values of study species were nearly 0 and differences strongly significant (range is 0 < λ < 1). The eigenvalues of factor analysis (FA) was indicated four factors of Channa panaw and three of Channa striata. The principal analysis (PCA) indicated size and shape variation and explained percentage of total variance, 86.602 and 87.723. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) accounted for four morphological indices (94.6 %, 3.9 %, 1.1 % and 0.4%) in Channa panaw and three morphological indices in Channa striata (73.3%, 25.0 % and 1.7 %) of with group variability. About 95% of individuals of two Channa species into their original group were correctly classified in discriminant space, as determined by discriminant function analysis. All statistically analyses were done using SPSS Package Version 26.