Morphometric comparative analysis of pharyngeal bones of the genus Scardinius (Pisces: Cyprinidae) in Greece

Abstract

Morphometric data have long been used in the classification of different fish species. This paper presents the first morphometric study of the pharyngeal bones and teeth of three species of freshwater fish of the genus Scardinius from Greece. Two of the species, S. graecus Stephanidis, 1937 and S. acarnanicus Stephanidis, 1939, are endemic to Greece and one, S. erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758), is widely distributed in Europe as well. Morphometric data were collected from individual fish with regard to pharyngeal bone and teeth measurements and external body measurements. Discriminant function analysis was used, showing that the pharyngeal bone measurements could be used to successfully discriminate different species with identical tooth type and tooth formulae within the same genus. The results of separate discriminant function analyses on (1) pharyngeal bones and their teeth, versus (2) external body measurements are discussed.