Morphological divergence in the Walton's Mudskipper,Periophthalmus waltoni Koumans, 1941, from the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman (Gobioidei: Gobiidae) |
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| Authors: | Mehdi Ghanbarifardi Mansour Aliabadian Hamid Reza Esmaeili Gianluca Polgar |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.meghfardi@gmail.com;3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.;4. Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran;5. Environmental and Life Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Gadong, Negara Brunei Darussalam. |
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| Abstract: | The body shape variation among 244 specimens of Periophthalmus waltoni Koumans, 1941, collected from seven stations in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, was analysed by utilising geometric morphometrics (GM) and truss-based morphometrics methods (TBM). Discriminant function analysis did not show significant differences between the shape of females and males. Canonical variate analysis and cluster analysis classified the specimens in two separate groups of stations: those in the Persian Gulf, and those in the Strait of Hormuz plus Gulf of Oman. Potential factors contributing to the observed variation include differences in physicochemical parameters between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. |
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| Keywords: | Phenotypic plasticity geometric morphometrics morphological landmarks truss protocol |
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