Relationship between Body and Otolith Morphological Characteristics of Sabre Squirrelfish (Sargocentron spiniferum) from the Southern Red Sea: Difference between Right and Left Otoliths

Kélig Mahé,Ashraf S. Mohammad,Yassein A. A. Osman,Sahar F. Mehanna,Samia M. El-Mahdy

doi:10.3390/oceans2030035

Abstract

Otolith morphology analysis is one of the main tools used for fish or fish stock identification. Moreover, otolith shape can also be used in animal dietary studies (stomach content) for the identification of prey fishes and their size according to the relationship between fish and otolith sizes. In the present study, the relationship between fish length and otolith morphological dimensions was investigated for the sabre squirrelfish, Sargocentron spiniferum (Forsskål, 1775) (family: Holocentridae). Samples of 185 fish were collected from the coast of the Red Sea, Egypt. To analyze the relationship between fish and otolith, otolith morphometric measurements (length, width, area, perimeter, weight, sulcus, and ostium) and shape factors (aspect ratio, compactness, form factor, rectangularity, roundness, ellipticity, squareness) describing the outline shape were extracted using image analysis. Generalized linear models were applied for the relationship between body length and each otolith morphology feature. From the relationships between the total length of fish and fourteen morphology features, only otolith length, caudal length, and squareness were significantly correlated with fish size. Our results provide more information for the relationship between fish length and otolith morphometric features.

Highlights

The sabre squirrelfish Sargocentron spiniferum (Forsskål, 1775) is a member of the familyHolocentridae, which is mainly distributed in the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea and EastAfrica to the Hawaiian Islands and Ducie Islands extending south to Australia
A general pattern of S. spiniferum sagittae can be recognized in adult individuals: the otolith shape of S. spiniferum is ovate with sinuate margins, and is elongated, reflecting slower growth of the dorso-ventral axis compared to the antero-posterior axis
Analysis of the relationships between fish length and fourteen otolith shape descriptors using a generalized linear model showed that there is a significant relationship between eight otolith parameters with the total length of fish

Summary

Introduction

Africa to the Hawaiian Islands and Ducie Islands extending south to Australia They can be diagnosed by several morphological criteria: head and body red, scale edges silvery white, spinous dorsal crimson in color, other fins orange-yellow, and vertically oblong fin crimson spot on preopercle behind eye [1]. This solitary species inhabits a variety of reef zones from reef flats to lagoon and seaward reefs to a depth of at least 120 m in New Caledonia, north to southern Japan and the Ogasawara Islands [1,2,3]. The maximum length and weight data are known

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