Otolith Morphology and Relationships of Several Fish Species of the Suborder Scorpaenoidei

Otolith (sagitta) morphology is described in six tropical fish species belonged to different genera of the suborder Scorpaenoidei: Synanceia horrida , Inimicus sinensis , Parascorpaena picta , Sebastapistes cyanostigma , Scorpaenopsis papuensis , and Dendrochirus zebra . Based on otolith shape (six shape indices and elliptic Fourier analysis), S. horrida is similar to Sc. papuensis and I. sinensis is similar to D. zebra . A comparison of otolith shape in P. picta , D. zebra , and three species of the family Sebastidae ( Helicolenus dactylopterus , Sebastes semicinctus , and S. hopkinsi ) using elliptic Fourier and principal component analyses shows that the clusters of H. dactylopterus and S. semicinctus partly overlap with the cluster of D. zebra , and the cluster of S. hopkinsi partly overlaps with the cluster of P. picta . The data on otolith shape do not correspond with current phylogenetic schemes that indicates relative independence of the inner ear evolution.