title: Atherina punctata and Atherina lagunae (Pisces, Atherinidae), new species in the Mediterranean Sea. 1. Biometric investigations of three Atherinid species.
abstract: Discriminative canonical analysis of 87 biometric parameters in the marine and lagoon atherinids of 'Atherina boyeri' complex from the Mediterranean Sea helps defining three distinct atherinid groups: marine punctuated, marine unpunctuated and lagoon atherinids. Each atherinid group constitutes a clearly independent original entity. Besides, each one is a more or less heterogeneous group with geographical disparities, characterising specimen collected from France and Tunisia. Concordance of biometric, biochemical and genetic results as well help define two new species of atherinids: Atherina punctata = punctuated marine atherinids, and Atherina lagunae = atherinids living in lagoon environments.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de biologie et parasitologie aquatique, faculté des sciences de Tunis, campus universitaire, 1060 Tunis, Tunisie.
authors.forename: Monia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trabelsi
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Faure
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Quignard
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boussaïd
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Focant
authors.forename: Fadhila
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mâamouri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification*; D013045:Species Specificity