Kurau fish (Filimanus perplexa) is one of the economical fish species in Indonesia which is commonly found in PPI Tanjungsari Pemalang. Kurau fish have a rather wide flat body shape, yellowish body color.Characteristic of  Kurau fish has seven free filaments on the  pectoral fin whose length exceeds the anal fin. Kurau fish is widely used as a consumption fish. Continuous capture without farming can lead to overfishing, so efforts are needed to preserve the Kurau fish. Kurau fish do not have sexual dimorphism, therefore taksonomical information is needed to distinguish male and female Kurau fish. Differences in male and female fish can be seen through morphological performance, morphometrics truss techniques and meristic characters. The purpose of this study was to differentiate male and female Kurau fish based on morphological performance, morphometrics truss technique and meristic characters. The method used in this research is survey. Samples were taken by purposive random sampling technique.Samples of  Kurau fish were obtained from PPI Tanjungsari Pemalang which  consist of  90 fish. The variables observed were morphological performance, morphometrics truss distance and meristic characters. The measured parameter is the ratio between the truss distance to the standard length. Morphological performance observed were body shape, mouth shape and position, caudal fin shape, scale type and tooth type. Morphometrics truss characters measured are the truss distances that have been determined by 15 points. Meristic characters were calculated, namely the number of hard and soft fingers on the dorsal, anal and pectoral fins; number of scales above and below the linea lateralis; the number of gill archs and the number of scales surrounding the tail shaft and the number of filaments on the pectoral fin. Data on morphological performance were analyzed descriptively, morphometrics truss character measurements were statistically analyzed by the "t" test of the SPSS Version 16.0 program and meristic characters were analyzed descriptively. The results showed that the character of truss mophometrics can be used as a differentiator between male and female kurau fish, namely in the posterior part of the body where males have wider body sizes and are relatively longer than females. Morphological performance and meristic characteristics cannot be the difference between male and female Kurau fish.

sexual dimorphism, morphological performance, morphometrics, meristic, kurau fish (Filimanus perplexa)