Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biológico Agropecuarias, Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit, Xalisco, Nayarit, Mexico.
Departamento de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile.
J Fish Biol. 2022 Nov;101(5):1262-1269. doi: 10.1111/jfb.15198. Epub 2022 Sep 7.
Otolith shape is widely used as a taxonomic feature in fish systematics. In Siluriformes, the lapillus otolith is the most relevant character for taxonomic purposes, although its discriminant potential has not been assessed quantitatively. Our study model were sea catfishes of the family Ariidae from the north-eastern Pacific as representatives of Siluriformes, a taxon with increased taxonomic complexity. The lapillus otolith shape obtained by geometric morphometrics showed high discrimination potential both at the genus and species levels with an overall classification accuracy of c. 93% (K = 0.92). Due to the strong species delimitation exhibited by lapillus otolith shape, the descriptions and identification keys provided here are the most useful materials to recognize the eight sea catfish species evaluated. The shared similarities in lapillus otolith shape among species seem to be more influenced by phylogenetic relationships than other factors such as habitat. The lapillus otolith shape is the most powerful taxonomic feature discovered so far for the identification of sea catfishes from the north-eastern Pacific.
耳石形状在鱼类系统分类学中被广泛用作分类特征。在 Siluriformes 目中，矢耳石是最具分类意义的特征，尽管其鉴别潜力尚未得到定量评估。我们的研究模型是来自东北太平洋的 Ariidae 科的海鲶鱼，代表 Siluriformes 目，这是一个分类复杂性增加的分类群。通过几何形态计量学获得的矢耳石形状在属和种水平上均具有较高的鉴别潜力，总体分类准确性约为 93%（K=0.92）。由于矢耳石形状表现出强烈的物种界限，因此这里提供的描述和鉴定关键是识别评估的八种海鲶鱼的最有用材料。种间矢耳石形状的相似性似乎更多地受到系统发育关系的影响，而不是其他因素，如栖息地。矢耳石形状是迄今为止发现的最有力的分类特征，可用于鉴定来自东北太平洋的海鲶鱼。
