Preliminary data on the study of otolith morphology of five pelagic fish species from the Adriatic Sea (Croatia)

Abstract

          The otolith (sagitta) measurements of five pelagic fish species - Engraulis encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758); Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792); Scomber scombrus Linnaeus, 1758; Scomber japonicus Houttuyn, 1780 and Belone belone (Linnaeus, 1761) – were obtained by image analysis of catch samples retrieved from the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea. Three dimensionless shape descriptors of form factor (F_F), roundness (R_D) and aspect ratio (A_R) were analysed and revealed statistically significant differences between the otoliths of the stated pelagic fish species. Maximum otolith length (LO) and otolith weight (WO) were linearly correlated to total fish length (TL) for each studied fish species; they were increasing proportionally during fish growth.