The article presents the study results of the inter-population variability of morphometric features of grass carp in the natural reservoirs of southern Kazakhstan (the Ili Delta and the Kapshagai Reservoir) and in the Kapshagai spawning and breeding farm. In the compared populations of herbivorous fish there has been found the variability in meristic characteristics to varying degrees, as well as the proportions of individual body parts. The increased value of inter-population variability may indicate the high plasticity of morphological features of grass carp and the significant adaptive capabilities of the compared populations. The valid differences in grass carp samples marked by a group of morphological features (plastic and meristic) and taken of fish from the hatchery and natural reservoirs of the Balkhash-Ili basin indicate the existence of species produced by artificial reproduction and by natural spawning in the natural reservoirs.
population, sample, grass carp, morphometric features, artificial reproduction, stocking, natural reservoirs, hatchery
1. Reimers N. F. Ekologiia. Teorii, zakony, pravila, printsipy i gipotezy [Theories, laws, rules, principles and hypotheses]. Moscow, Rossiia molodaia Publ., 1994. 367 p.
2. Asylbekova S. Zh., Isbekov K. B., Kulikov E. V. K voprosu zarybleniia vodoemov Kazakhstana kachestvennym ryboposadochnym materialom tsennykh vidov ryb [To aspect of Kazakhstan reservoirs stocking by high quality seeding material of valuable fish species]. Vestnik Astrakhanskogo gosudarstvennogo tekhnicheskogo universiteta. Seriia: Rybnoe khoziaistvo, 2018, no. 2, pp. 7-14.
3. Verigin B. V., Makeeva A. P. Osobennosti otbora, sviazannye s kachestvom ikry i potomstva ras-titel'noiadnykh ryb [Characteristics of selection in terms of quality of roe and offspring of herbivore fish]. Selektsiia ryb. Moscow, Agropromizdat, 1989. Pp. 185-194.
4. Pravdin I. F. Rukovodstvo po izucheniiu ryb [Manual of fish study]. Moscow, Pishchevaia promyshlennost' Publ., 1966. 376 p.
5. Mitrofanov V. P. Karpovye ryby Kazakhstana. Dis. … d-ra biol. nauk [Carp fishes of Kazakhstan. Diss.Abstr. … Dr.Biol.Sci.]. Alma-Ata, 1973. 404 p.
6. Kirpichnikov L. S. Genetika i selektsiia ryb [Genetics and selection of fish]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1987. 520 p.
7. Zhivotovskii L. A. Populiatsionnaia biometriia [Population biometrics]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1991. 271 p.
8. Mitrofanov V. P., Dukravets G. M. i dr. Ryby Kazakhstana [Fish of Kazakhstan]. Almaty, Gylym Publ. 1992. Vol. 5. 464 p.
9. Poliakov G. D. Ekologicheskie zakonomernosti populiatsionnoi izmenchivosti ryb [Environmental regularities of population variability in fish]. Moscow, 1975. 158 p.
10. Pak I. V. Kompleksnaia morfogeneticheskaia otsenka sostoianiia prirodnykh populiatsii ryb: uchebnoe posobie [Complex morphogenetic assessment of fish natural populations: teaching aids]. Tiumen', Izd-vo TiumGU, 2005. 168 p.
