Comparison of urohyal bone morphology among gerreid fish (Perciformes: Gerreidae)

Abstract

The urohyal bone, located in the central part of the mandibular skeleton, plays an important role in the mouth openingclosing mechanism of fish, and is considered a synapomorphy in teleostean fish. Morphology of the urohyal bone in six species of Gerreidae (Diapterus brevirostris, D. auratus, Eugerres lineatus, E. plumieri, Eucinostomus entomelas and Gerres cinereus) from the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of México was compared, using size and shape measurements. The main goal of the study was to explore the effectiveness of urohyal measurements in discriminating Gerreidae species. Morphological variation of urohyal bones, in terms of size and shape parameters, allowed species differentiation. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) significantly separated the six species with high classification rates (overall mean 92%). The G-test and Cohen's kappa confirmed the high rates of classification success obtained by DFA. Circularity, Feret minimum, roundness, rectangularity and area were the main urohyal measurements explaining inter-specific variability. These results suggest the usefulness of urohyal bone morphology in differentiating Gerreidae species analyzed, highlighting the taxonomic value of the urohyal bone, until now never quantitatively evaluated as a diagnostic character in the classification of teleostean fish.

Supporting the existence of two isolated evolutionary lineages ofGerres(Perciformes: Gerreidae) in America

“…Reproductive isolation between G. cinereus and G. simillimus has resulted in morphological variation that can be quantified by analysing the shape of the bodies, urohyal bones or sagittae otoliths, which are important for taxonomic purposes (Arratia & Schultze, ; Baremore & Bethea, ; Chollet‐Villalpando et al, ; De La Cruz‐Agüero et al, ; Jawad, Khahe‐Jahromi, Teimori, Mehraban, & Esmaeili, ; Nolf, ; Reichenbacher, Sienknecht, Kuchenhoff, & Fenske, ). The discriminant power of body shape was higher than otolith and urohyal shape.…”

“…Between 45 and 48 mojarras, according to the structure analysed (Table ), were used for geometric morphometric analyses. Each fish was photographed on its left side, and the otoliths and urohyal bones were removed following the procedures described in De La Cruz‐Agüero et al () and Chollet‐Villalpando et al (), respectively. Fish were photographed with an Olympus SP 320 digital camera fitted with a 3× optical zoom and an Olympus SZ2‐LGBST light source mounted on a base that included a metric scale.…”

“…In recent years, several studies of the family Gerreidae have used the urohyal bone, sagittae otoliths (hereinafter, otoliths), morphometric body characters and molecular markers to resolve the taxonomic problems of some species and genera of mojarras in the Neotropics (e.g., Chollet‐Villalpando, De La Cruz‐Agüero, & García‐Rodríguez, ; De La Cruz‐Agüero et al, ; De La Cruz‐Agüero et al, ; Martínez‐Guevara et al, ; Martínez‐Guevara, García‐Rodríguez, & De La Cruz‐Agüero, ; Vergara‐Solana, García‐Rodríguez, & De La Cruz‐Agüero, ; Vergara‐Solana, García‐Rodriguez, et al, ).This multisource approach intends to incorporate all the available information when defining the limits between species.…”

Comparative Analysis of Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Three Gerres Fishes (Perciformes: Gerreidae) and Primary Exploration of Their Evolution History

“…As marine carnivorous species, Gerreidae fishes mainly inhabit tropical and subtropical coastal waters that are frequently affected by freshwater [14,15]. Gerreidae fishes not only play important roles in the domain of marine commercial fishes, but also have become one of the most representative groups in the tropical and subtropical aquatic ecosystems [16]. The data displayed by Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have showed that annual capture production of the Gerreidae family has increased from 242 t in 1950 to 12,674 t in 2017, and the genus of Gerres is the domination of the fishery capture with higher exploitation [17].…”

Comparative morphology of urohyal bone in brackish water species of the genus Aphanius Nardo, 1827 in the Persian Gulf and Southeastern Mediterranean Sea basins (Teleostei: Aphaniidae)

“…It plays an important role not only in mouth opening-closing mechanism but also in the trophic strategies of fishes (Arratia, G., Schultze, 1990;Chollet-Villalpando et al, 2014b). Considering its function, the urohyal bone can be used in feeding studies to quan-tify the food consumed by piscivorous fish and also other aquatic animals (Johal et al, 2000;Tombari et al, 2010;Perez-Comesaña et al, 2013).…”