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Turkish Journal of Zoology

Abstract

Shape and size analyses of otoliths are widely considered appropriate tools for distinguishing between fish species and for assessing populations and stocks.  The present study aims to distinguish four gurnard species collected from Edremit  Bay (Aegean Sea) based on variations in their otolith shape morphology. A total of 60  specimens of Eutrigla gurnardus, 64 of Chelidonichthys lastoviza, 60 of  Chelidonichthys lucerna, and 60 of Lepidotrigla cavillone were analyzed. No  significant intraspecific differences were noted in the morphology of the left and right  otoliths, and so only the left sagittal otoliths were subjected to further analysis. Otolith  shape was quantified using wavelet coefficients generated via the ShapeR  software package. In addition, otolith size indices, including length (OL), height (OH),  perimeter (OP), and area (OA), were extracted from digital images, while shape  descriptors such as form factor (FF), aspect ratio (AR), ellipticity (E), circularity (C),  roundness (RD), and rectangularity (R), were measured for each species. Significant  interspecific differences were observed in the otolith shape and size indices (p <  0.05), and mean otolith shapes generated using wavelet derived contours revealed  obvious shape differences among the species. These findings were strongly  supported by a canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP), with the first two axes together explaining 96.5% of the total variance (CAP1 = 84.7%, CAP2 = 11.8%).  Overall, the results indicate that otolith shape analysis is a reliable tool for  identifying gurnard species and provides a methodological baseline for future  comparative studies in the Aegean Sea.

Author ORCID Identifier

AHMET ŞENBAHAR: 0000-0001-6613-8932

DİLEK İLHAN: 0000-0003-1228-105X

AYDIN ÜNLÜOĞLU: 0000-0002-6868-1880

SENCER AKALIN: 0000-0001-9839-6485

DOI

10.55730/1300-0179.3260

Keywords

Otolith, morphology, Triglidae, ShapeR, Edremit Bay, Aegean Sea

First Page

160

Last Page

171

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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