TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparison of urohyal bone morphology among gerreid fish (Perciformes: Gerreidae)
AU - Chollet-Villalpando, J. G.
AU - De La Cruz-Agüero, J.
AU - García-Rodríguez, F. J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank V.M. Cota, F.J. Vergara, A. Martínez and J.A. Payán for their help in the fieldwork, and I. Fogel (Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, CIBNOR) for improving the English. Funding was provided by Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado, Instituto Politécnico Nacional (SIP-IPN). JDA and FJGR are fellows of the Comisión para el Fomento de las Actividades Académicas (COFAA-IPN) and Estímulo al Desempeño de los Investigadores (EDI-IPN). JDA and FJGR appreciate the support of the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI-CONACyT). JGCV received grants from the Programa Institucional de Formación de Investigadores (PIFI-IPN) and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT). We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript.
PY - 2014/4
Y1 - 2014/4
N2 - The urohyal bone, located in the central part of the mandibular skeleton, plays an important role in the mouth opening-closing 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.
AB - The urohyal bone, located in the central part of the mandibular skeleton, plays an important role in the mouth opening-closing 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.
KW - Gerreidae
KW - Urohyal bone
KW - biometric analysis
KW - taxonomy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84903629562&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/11250003.2014.912681
DO - 10.1080/11250003.2014.912681
M3 - Artículo
SN - 1125-0003
VL - 81
SP - 246
EP - 255
JO - Italian Journal of Zoology
JF - Italian Journal of Zoology
IS - 2
ER -