Many natural fish populations undergo morphological and craniometric variations due to habitat alteration. The current study was planned to understand the influence of dissimilar habitats on fish growth. To analyze these variations, 14 morphometric and 06 craniometric characteristics of Bagarius bagarius from two sampling sites (head Balloki and Head Trimmu) were analyzed. A total of 20 fish samples (10 from each site) were collected from January to March 2022, and their morpho-craniometric variations were studied at the Institute of Zoology, University of the Punjab. The outcomes of the study presented definite differences among different populations of B. bagarius. Moreover, it is also depicted that the fish growth was more coherent at the head Trimmu site as compared to the head Balloki.

Keywords: Bagarius bagarius, Morphometric and craniometric variations, Inter and Intraspecific variations, Head Trimmu and Head Balloki, Freshwater Ecosystem.