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Vol. 38 No. 3, 1999
Landmark-based Morphometric Analysis in Selected Species of
Serranid Fishes (Perciformes: Teleostei)
Mauro
José Cavalcanti1, Leandro Rabello Monteiro2 and Paulo Roberto Duarte
Lopes3,*
1Departamento
de Biologia Geral, Universidade Santa Úrsula, Rua Fernando Ferrari, 75,
22231-040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
2Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual
Paulista, Caixa Postal 199, 13506-900, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
3Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade
Estadual de Feira de Santana, Campus Universitário, Km 3, BR-116,
44031-460, Ferira de Santana, BA, Brazil
Mauro
José Cavalcanti, Leandro Rabello Monteiro and Paulo Roberto Duarte
Lopes (1999) Morphological differences among 6 species of
marine fishes belonging to 2 subfamilies of the family Serranidae
(Serraninae: Dules auriga, Diplectrum formosum, and D. radiale; Epinephelinae: Epinephelus marginatus, Mycteroperca acutirostris, and M. bonaci) were studied by the
geometric morphometric method of thin-plate splines and multivariate
analysis of partial-warp scores. The decomposition of shape variation
into uniform and nonaffine components of shape change indicate that
major differences among species are related to both components of shape
variation. Significant differences were found among species with
respect to the uniform components, but there is no clear separation of
taxonomic groups related to these components, and species are instead
separated on the basis of body height and caudal peduncle length.
Non-uniform changes in body shape, in turn, clearly differentiate the
species of Serraninae and Epinephelinae. These shape changes are
probably related to differences in habitat and feeding habits among the
species.
Key words:
Serranidae, Truss networks, Geometric morphometrics, Partial-warp
scores, Multivariate analysis.
*Correspondence:
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