Premium
Morphometric discrimination of early life stage Lampetra tridentata and L. richardsoni (Petromyzonidae) from the Columbia River Basin
Author(s) -
Meeuwig Michael H.,
Bayer Jennifer M.,
Reiche Rebecca A.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of morphology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1097-4687
pISSN - 0362-2525
DOI - 10.1002/jmor.10427
Subject(s) - biology , meristics , trunk , discriminant function analysis , anatomy , larva , zoology , ecology , machine learning , computer science
The effectiveness of morphometric and meristic characteristics for taxonomic discrimination of Lampetra tridentata and L. richardsoni (Petromyzonidae) during embryological, prolarval, and early larval stages (i.e., age class 1) were examined. Mean chorion diameter increased with time from fertilization to hatch and was significantly greater for L. tridentata than for L. richardsoni at 1, 8, and 15 days postfertilization. Lampetra tridentata larvae had significantly more trunk myomeres than L. richardsoni ; however, trunk myomere numbers were highly variable within species and deviated from previously published data. Multivariate examinations of prolarval and larval L. tridentata (7.2–11.0 mm; standard length) and L. richardsoni (6.6–10.8 mm) were conducted based on standard length and truss element lengths established from eight homologous landmarks. Principal components analysis indicated allometric relationships among the morphometric characteristics examined. Changes in body shape were indicated by groupings of morphometric characteristics associated with body regions (e.g., oral hood, branchial region, trunk region, and tail region). Discriminant function analysis using morphometric characteristics was successful in classifying a large proportion (>94.7%) of the lampreys sampled. J. Morphol. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.