Morphological characteristics of rabbitfish Siganusargenteus (Quoydangaimard, 1825) from Manado bay, north Sulawesi, Indonesia

This study was aimed to determine variations of morphological characters (Morphometrics and meristics) of rabbitfish (Siganusargenteus.) andcompare them with the fork length, head length and other morphometric characters. It was also intended to determine the morphological characters usable for species identification. The fish samples were collected from Manado Bay waters, North Sulawesi, and there was a total of 3 individuals of S. argenteus whose morphological characters were analyzed. Results showed that their taxonomic characters covering quantitative morphology (Morphometric and meristic) and qualitative morphology (color and typical characters) could be used to describe and identify the rabbitfish, S. argenteus. It also exhibited variations in value range of the morphometric character among individuals of the species.This species possesses nearly fusiform-like body shape. Caudal fin is forked. Mouth position is rather ventral and small-sized with blunt snout.