Morphological variability of Liza aurata (Risso, 1810), along the southern Caspian Sea

Abstract

Morphological variability of Liza aurata (Risso, 1810), was studied in traditional morphometric measurements in 25 morphological characters from 90 specimens in three fishery areas in the southern Caspian Sea (Guilan, Mazandaran and Golestan). Univariate analysis of variance showed significant differences between the means of the three groups for 22 out of 25 standardized morphometric measurements. In discriminant function analysis (DFA), the proportion of individuals correctly classified into their original groups was 100%. Principal component analysis results (PCA) for morphometric data indicated that samples of Guilan and Mazandaran showed high degree of overlap and these two regions were highly different from Golestan. The dendrogram derived from cluster analysis showed that the samples of L. aurata from Guilan and Mazandaran had same clade while both were obviously distinct from Golestan.