Journal
SCIENTIA MARINA
Volume 76, Issue 3, Pages 473-481Publisher
INST CIENCIAS MAR BARCELONA
DOI: 10.3989/scimar.03408.05B
Keywords
beak morphological variable; species classification; Ommastrephes bartramii; Dosidicus gigas; Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis; Illex argentinus
Categories
Funding
- Shanghai Municipal Education Commission [08GG14]
- Program of Shanghai Subject Chief Scientist [10XD1402000]
- Ph.D. Programs Foundation of the Chinese Ministry of Education [20093104110002]
- Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project [S30702]
- National Distant-water Fisheries Engineering Research Center
- Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Oceanic Fishery Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, P. R. China
- Shanghai Dongfeng Scholar Program
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Four oceanic squid species, Ommastrephes bartramii, Dosidicus gigas, Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis and Illex argentinus, not only support important commercial fisheries, but also play a vital role in their marine ecosystems. It is therefore important to identify them in the analyses of their predators' stomach contents as this can yield critical information on the trophic dynamics of ecosystems. Hard beaks of the four species frequently found in their predators' stomachs can be used to identify them. In this study, to remove the effect of size differences among individuals, measurements of upper and lower beaks were standardized with an allometric model. A discriminant analysis was carried out to compare morphological differences among the four species and between the sexes for each species. The upper rostral width and upper rostral length showed the greatest interspecific variation in the beak morphological variables of the four Ommastrephidae. The linear discriminant functions of beak morphological variables were developed for the four Ommastraphidae, which resulted in a rate of correct species classification of over 97%. Sexual dimorphism was also found in the beak morphology of O. bartramii and I. argentinus. This study suggests that morphological variables can be used to reliably classify Ommastrephidae at genus level, which can help identify the specie in the stomachs of cephalopod predators. This helps to improve the understanding of the role cephalopods play in their marine ecosystems.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available