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Otolith Shape Analysis of the Mediterranean Horse Mackerel, Trachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) (Perciformes: Carangidae) from the Coastal Waters of Sevastopol and Balaklava (the Black Sea)

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Abstract—

Otolith shape analysis was conducted with two methods on nine samples of the Mediterranean horse mackerel Trachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) caught in Sevastopol and Balaklava bays in 2017–2018. The first method was based on morphometric measurements: length, width, perimeter, and area, which were adjusted to the average fish length from all studied samples; six otolith shape indices were obtained for the analysis: aspect ratio, circularity, rectangularity, roundness, form factor, and ellipticity. The second approach used coefficients of the elliptical Fourier analysis of otolith contours. No significant differences were found between the left and right otoliths as well as between otoliths of males and females. The results of discrimination between the samples were different for these two methods, but in general, otoliths of the horse mackerel from all studied bays did not differ significantly in both shape indices and Fourier coefficients.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is grateful to N.S. Kuzminova for help in collecting otoliths and for data on bioanalysis of the Black Sea horse mackerel.

Funding

The work was carried out on the theme Functional, metabolic and toxicological aspects of aquatic organisms and their populations in biotopes with different physicochemical regimes, State registration number: АААА-А18-118021490093-4, as well as with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project Response of the Black Sea pelagic ecosystem to climate changes in the region (by the example of jellyfish, ctenophores and small pelagic fish), no. 18-44-920022р_а.

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  1. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences, 299011, Sevastopol, Russia

    M. V. Chesalin

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  1. M. V. Chesalin
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Correspondence to M. V. Chesalin.

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Translated by I. Basegova

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Chesalin, M.V. Otolith Shape Analysis of the Mediterranean Horse Mackerel, Trachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) (Perciformes: Carangidae) from the Coastal Waters of Sevastopol and Balaklava (the Black Sea). Russ J Mar Biol 47, 176–184 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063074021030044

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