Morphological variation of Mountain Mullet, Agonostomus monticola, (Teleostei: Mugilidae) in the Mexican Pacific drainages

Authors: B.P. Diaz-Murillo, Gorgonio Ruiz-Campos, Francisco J. García de León, Faustino Camarena-Rosales

Year: 2014 (xlvi)

Abstract

The morphological variation (meristic and morphometric) of the Mountain Mullet, Agonostomus monticola, (Bancroft, 1857) was evaluated in populations from the Mexican Pacific drainage, based on 36 body distances and eight meristic characters of 192 adult specimens. Discriminant function analysis yielded 21 morphometric and four meristic characters to be significant in variation, of which eight showed a tendency of geographical variation among populations. Based on the squared MahalanobisÂ´ distances of the standardized morphometric values, a large group of populations was formed by those individuals from the Suchiate, Verde, María García, Presidio, Piaxtla, Fuerte, Baluarte, Sinaloa, Ameca and Tomatlán basins; while other three basins (La Paz, Pitillial and Los Arcos) were classified as discrete unities.

Resumen

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