In the present study 14 morphological traits(e.g.,total length,standard length,eye diameter)and 20 truss network characters were measured with different populations of Coilia nasus (CN),which were collected from Lvsi(LS) and Dasha fishing ground(DS)of the Yellow Sea,Chongming island(CM)of the Yangtze River estuary,Wuhu section in the Yangtze River(WH),Zhoushan Islands(ZS)in the Qiangtang River stuary,and Dongying section in the Yellow River(HH).Morphological differences between male and female C.nasus were analyzed by One-Way ANOVA analysis,principal components analysis and discriminant analysis,while morphological features of different populations were also comprehensively analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis H test,principal components analysis and discriminant analysis.Results indicated that the sexual size dimorphism was not significant in C.nasus, and there were no significant differences between male and female individuals except relative fatness,body depth at dorsal,body depth at anus,caudal peduncle depth and other 5 truss network characters.Additionally,cephalic traits among LSCN,DSCN,CMCN and WHCN were similar,while those of ZSCN and HHCN were relatively unique.The intergraded morphological features of former four populations(LSCN,DSCN,CMCN and WHCN)were significantly different from the remaining two populations(i.e.,ZSCN and HHCN),suggesting that the latter might be relatively independent and might have weak connectivity with the former populations.