Morphological Characterization of Lithognathus mormyrus (Linnaeus, 1758) Populations in the Southern Black Sea (Turkey)

Abstract

Morphological characteristics such as meristic counts and body shape have long been used in stock identification. Fifty striped seabream, Lithognathus mormyrus, individuals were sampled from the south Black Sea between January 2020 and November 2020. Morphometric characteristics were given as the percentage of total length (TL%). Species identification and shape differences between sexes of striped seabream were analyzed by different statistical methods. The biggest maximum length and weight values (TL=310 mm for TW=399.73 g) were found for the southern Black Sea in this study. The mean TL of female individuals ((X) over bar =205.26 mm) was found higher than male individuals ((X) over bar =199.10 mm). The TL% ratio of head length was found as 24.45% for all individuals. In this study, isometric growth (t=2.009, p>0.05) was determined for all individuals and the length-weight relationship (LWR) was found as W=0.013TL(3.003) (r(2)=0.983). This study revealed that the morphological characteristics of L. mormyrus differ significantly between female and male individuals and the species may be a good example of sexual dimorphism.