OTOLITH MORPHOLOGY DIVERSITY OF NINE SPECIES OF GOBIES (ACTINOPTERII: GOBIIFORMES) IN THE BA LAT ESTUARY, VIET NAM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18173/2354-1059.2024-0010Keywords:
sagittal morphology, fish growth, identification, gobies, northern VietnamAbstract
Otoliths are located in the inner ear of bony fishes, which represent species-specific morphology. Thus, these structures could be used as an important trait in fish identification. However, little such information is available on gobies, one of the most diverse bony fish groups, which are commonly difficult to identify using external morphology. The present study provides information on the otolith morphometry of nine species of gobies (in three families, i.e., Eleotridae, Gobiidae, and Oxudercidae) caught in the Ba Lat estuary of the Red River in 2019. Otolith morphology of species in one family resembles, but it is clearly different between species in the same genus. Otolith length and weight changed proportionally to the fish’s growth, but their shapes were not much changeable in one species. These results are valuable for further investigations into a taxonomy of gobies using otoliths and confirm the species-specific characteristics of this structure in fish identification.
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