Assessment of the morphometry of saccular otoliths as a tool to identify triplefin species (Tripterygiidae)

Abstract

In the present work we describe nine saccular otolith morphometric indices (circularity, rectangularity, aspect ratio, percentage of the otolith surface occupied by the sulcus, percentage of the sulcus length occupied by the cauda length and ostium length, otolith length relative to the length of the fish, rostrum aspect ratio and percentage of the rostrum length occupied by the otolith length) of 41 species of the Tripterygiidae family collected mainly from New Zealand, Australia, Chile, South Africa, Mediterranean Sea and North America. The principal component of analysis showed that the indices that best explain the variability between species were related to sulcus and rostrum morphometry. According to cluster analysis, otolith morphometry could reflect the diversity of microenvironments for some genera such as Notoclinops and Forsterygion, while this does not happen to genera like Enneapterygius and Ruanoho. The discriminant analysis showed that the species Helcogrammoides cunninghami, Karalepis stewarti, Lepidoblennius haplodactylus, Notoclinus compressus, Ucla xenogrammus can be discriminated by using the morphometric indices. Two new indices related to the sulcus that were of great value for the discrimination of these species are described for the first time. This information will be a useful tool for palaeontological, taxonomic and trophic ecology studies.

Identification of nurseries areas of juvenile Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes, 1836) (Characiformes: Prochilodontidae) by scale and otolith morphometry and microchemistry

“…Because of these characteristics, otolith morphometry has been widely used to identify fish stocks (Campana & Casselman, 1993;Cañás et al, 2012), to differentiate species (Tuset et al, 2012(Tuset et al, , 2013Zhuang et al, 2014), to describe ecomorphological patterns of species (Tuset et al, 2003a;Jaramillo et al, 2014;Avigliano et al, 2016), and as an environmental indicator (Nelson et al, 1994;Avigliano et al, 2016). Among the most commonly used indexes are rectangularity, circularity and aspect ratio (Longmore et al, 2010;Cañás et al, 2012;Jaramillo et al, 2014;Avigliano et al, 2016).…”

Morphology and ontogenetic changes in otoliths of the mesopelagic fishes Ceratoscopelus maderensis (Myctophidae), Vinciguerria attenuata and V. poweriae (Phosichthyidae) from the Strait of Messina (Mediterranean Sea)

“…According to the terminology of Avigliano, Martinez, and Volpedo (2014), Avigliano, Jawad, and Volpedo (2015), a number of otolith measurements were recorded. These were otolith length (OL, mm), otolith width (OW, mm), otolith perimeter (OP, mm), otolith surface (OS, mm 2 ), sulcus perimeter (SP, mm), sulcus surface (SS, mm 2 ), sulcus length (SL, mm), cauda length (CL, mm), ostium length (OSL, mm), rostrum width (RW, mm) and rostrum length (RL, mm; Figure 1b).…”

Morphometry of Sardine Otoliths Using Digital Image Processing

“…To determine the variability of cluster analysis and discriminated analysis between species to find the identification of species by using an algorithm PCA (principal component analysis) to performed the characterization by means of morphometric of otoliths. This evidence will be a beneficial tool for paleontological, taxonomic and trophic ecology consideration [4].…”