Diversification in the supply of fish farming has led to the hybridization of high commercial value species, such as the large catfish of the Pimelodidae family, in search of the improvement of relevant characteristics. However, one of the main problems of this practice is that morphologically the hybrids are si- milar to the parental lines or with intermediate forms difficult to differentiate. The new morphometric tools as geometry have managed to quantitatively evaluate the morphological changes, contributing to clarify problems of morphological differentiation. In order to evaluate the morphometric relationships and establish whether, the analyzed characteristics are intermediate in the hybrid with respect to the parental lines, the morphometric characterization of 20 adult specimens of Pseudoplatystoma metaense, was performed 21 of Leiarius marmoratus and 12 of the hybrid Pseudoplatystoma metaense x Leiarius marmoratus, for a total of 53 individuals evaluated. Li- near morphometry analyses were performed, using body and cranial measurements, sustained in the analysis of principal and discriminating components, as a way of evaluating the contour of the specimens. For the osteological analysis, the neurocranium was used, obtained by means of the maceration protocol; with photographs; these were analyzed using geometric morphometry with the programs of the IMP series. Thus, it was found that the similarities observed at first sight in the hybrid with respect to their parentals, are not representative and therefore, statistically, three defined morphological groups that separate the parental species and the hybrid, thus obtaining an easy-to-identify tool. In the osteological analysis, similarities were found between the neurocraniums of the hybrid and Pseudoplatystoma metaense, which raises a pattern of inheritance in which possible convergences and divergences can be evaluated, as a result of hybridization.

KEY WORDS: Geometric morphometry; Aquaculture; Orinoco basin; Osteology; Pisciculture.