POPULATION STRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF RED BARRACUDA, SPHYRAENA PINGUIS (PERCIFORMES, SPHYRAENIDAE) IN THE NORTH-EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA USING MORPHOMETRIC AND MERISTIC CHARACTERS

Turan, Cemal/0000-0001-9584-0261 WOS: 000351332500001 Population structure of red barracuda, Sphyraena pinguis, in north-eastern Mediterranean waters was investigated using morphometric and meristic characters. In discriminant function analysis, first, second and third discriminant functions explained 48.6%, 30.2% and 21.2% of the between-group variation respectively. Plotting first and second discriminant functions explained 81.1% of the between-group variation, and revealed the existence of four morphologically distinct populations of S. pinguis in the north-eastern Mediterranean coastal waters. A correct classification of individuals into their original population was ranged from 93.3% to 96.7%, and the overall random assignment was high (96.7%). The proportion of correctly classified individuals into their original group was the same and greatest (96.7%) for the Iskenderun Bay and Syrian samples. In hierarchical cluster analysis, the Mersin Bay sample was clustered as the first clade, while the Iskenderun Bay and Syrian samples were in the neighbouring clades, and the Antalya Bay sample was clustered as the most divergent. Examination of the contribution of each morphometric and meristic character to the first and second principal components revealed that the observed differences were mainly from the characters associated on head length and eye diameter, indicating that these characters are important in the detected differentiation of the populations.