A morphometric and meristic investigation of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801): evidence of population fragmentation on Portuguese coast
A total of 207 specimens of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus from six different localities were analysed in terms of morphometric and meristic characters in order to investigate the hypothesis of population fragmentation on the Portuguese coast. This study confirmed the relative isolatio...
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2003-06-01
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doaj-5ffffec030a94b24b354ad5ecf7808c92021-05-05T13:49:47ZengConsejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasScientia Marina0214-83581886-81342003-06-0167221923110.3989/scimar.2003.67n2219465A morphometric and meristic investigation of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801): evidence of population fragmentation on Portuguese coastJosé Lino Costa0Pedro Raposo de Almeida1María José Costa2Instituto de Oceanografia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de LisboaInstituto de Oceanografia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de LisboaInstituto de Oceanografia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de LisboaA total of 207 specimens of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus from six different localities were analysed in terms of morphometric and meristic characters in order to investigate the hypothesis of population fragmentation on the Portuguese coast. This study confirmed the relative isolation between the Algarve populations and those from the western estuaries, which also showed a high degree of discrimination among them. Morphometric characteristics were much more adequate than meristic characters for a good separation of these populations. The most relevant morphometric characteristics for separation between H. didactylus populations were head width, interorbital width and pelvic fin length. These three variables were very useful for separation between western populations and seem to play an important role in species feeding activity. The caudal peduncle development is mainly related to the specimen´ swimming ability and was particularly relevant for discrimination between northern and southern populations and between estuarine and adjacent marine populations, apparently due to differences in hydrodynamic conditions. Meristic variation is mostly of a latitudinal nature (mainly nasal tentacles and pores on the lower jaw) but some differences between estuarine and marine populations (principally fin rays counts) related to water temperature were also observed.http://scientiamarina.revistas.csic.es/index.php/scientiamarina/article/view/470halobatrachus didactyluslusitanian toadfishpopulation fragmentationportugalmorphometric and meristic analysis |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
José Lino Costa Pedro Raposo de Almeida María José Costa |
spellingShingle |
José Lino Costa Pedro Raposo de Almeida María José Costa A morphometric and meristic investigation of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801): evidence of population fragmentation on Portuguese coast Scientia Marina halobatrachus didactylus lusitanian toadfish population fragmentation portugal morphometric and meristic analysis |
author_facet |
José Lino Costa Pedro Raposo de Almeida María José Costa |
author_sort |
José Lino Costa |
title |
A morphometric and meristic investigation of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801): evidence of population fragmentation on Portuguese coast |
title_short |
A morphometric and meristic investigation of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801): evidence of population fragmentation on Portuguese coast |
title_full |
A morphometric and meristic investigation of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801): evidence of population fragmentation on Portuguese coast |
title_fullStr |
A morphometric and meristic investigation of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801): evidence of population fragmentation on Portuguese coast |
title_full_unstemmed |
A morphometric and meristic investigation of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801): evidence of population fragmentation on Portuguese coast |
title_sort |
morphometric and meristic investigation of lusitanian toadfish halobatrachus didactylus (bloch and schneider, 1801): evidence of population fragmentation on portuguese coast |
publisher |
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas |
series |
Scientia Marina |
issn |
0214-8358 1886-8134 |
publishDate |
2003-06-01 |
description |
A total of 207 specimens of Lusitanian toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus from six different localities were analysed in terms of morphometric and meristic characters in order to investigate the hypothesis of population fragmentation on the Portuguese coast. This study confirmed the relative isolation between the Algarve populations and those from the western estuaries, which also showed a high degree of discrimination among them. Morphometric characteristics were much more adequate than meristic characters for a good separation of these populations. The most relevant morphometric characteristics for separation between H. didactylus populations were head width, interorbital width and pelvic fin length. These three variables were very useful for separation between western populations and seem to play an important role in species feeding activity. The caudal peduncle development is mainly related to the specimen´ swimming ability and was particularly relevant for discrimination between northern and southern populations and between estuarine and adjacent marine populations, apparently due to differences in hydrodynamic conditions. Meristic variation is mostly of a latitudinal nature (mainly nasal tentacles and pores on the lower jaw) but some differences between estuarine and marine populations (principally fin rays counts) related to water temperature were also observed. |
topic |
halobatrachus didactylus lusitanian toadfish population fragmentation portugal morphometric and meristic analysis |
url |
http://scientiamarina.revistas.csic.es/index.php/scientiamarina/article/view/470 |
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