title: Scale morphometry allows discrimination of European sardine Sardina pilchardus and round sardinella Sardinella aurita and among their local populations.
abstract: Landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis revealed differences in scale shape between European sardine Sardina pilchardus and round sardinella Sardinella aurita as well as among the local populations of each species. Fish scale measurements from four different areas in the central and eastern Mediterranean Sea showed that the mean scale shape of the two species using landmark data could be differentiated with high certainty. Populations of S. aurita from the central and eastern Mediterranean Sea could be separated reliably (P < 0·001) with an average discrimination rate of 91%, whereas the average discrimination of the S. pilchardus populations was lower (80%), albeit still high.
authors.affiliation: University of Pécs, Department of Ecology, Ifjúság útja 6, 7624, Pécs, Hungary.|Deutsches Meeresmuseum, Katharinenberg 14-20, 18437, Stralsund, Germany.
authors.forename: Zs
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bräger
authors.affiliation: Deutsches Meeresmuseum, Katharinenberg 14-20, 18437, Stralsund, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moritz
authors.affiliation: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Biology, Laboratory of Ichthyology, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Tsikliras
authors.affiliation: Tethys Research Institute, Viale G.B. Gadio 2, 20121, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gonzalvo
authors.affiliation: Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, Kaštel 24, 51551, Veli Lošinj, Croatia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radulović
authors.affiliation: Szent István University, Department of Aquaculture, Páter K. 1, 2100, Gödöllő, Hungary.
authors.forename: Á
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Staszny
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005399:Fishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification*; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D012867:Skin / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
keywords: clupeid; discriminant function analysis; geometric morphometrics; landmarks; scale shape