Use of different geometric morphometrics tools for the discrimination of phenotypic stocks of the striped clam (Ameghinomya antiqua) in San José Gulf, Patagonia, Argentina.

FEDERICO MÁRQUEZ,; ROBLEDO, JORGELINA; ESCATI PEÑALOZA, GABRIELA; VAN DER MOLEN, SILVINA

FISHERIES RESEARCH

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2010 vol. 101 p. 127 - 131

0165-7836

The striped clam (Ameghinomya antiqua (King, 1832)) metapopulation of the San José Gulf is a good model for phenotypic stocks studies based on the shell shape variation in different fishing grounds. These sites show differences in circulation, tidal currents, coastal topography, and bathymetry. It is known that the diverse environments produce differences in the growth rate of this species. In the current work, we study the shell shape changes in the striped clam from different fishing grounds of the San José Gulf through geometric morphometrics methods. Outlines and landmarks analyses were successful to determinate the provenance of the individuals, with almost the 90% of correct assignations for the most of the fishing grounds. The different methodologies displayed variations in diverse morphological structures and showed different shell shape similarities among localities depending of the method used. Furthermore, each site presented a typical shell shape. Our results showed that the geometric morphometrics methods are powerful tools to identify and separate intra-specific groups. This approach is applicable to other exploited species with subtle shape variations.