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

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 (FF), roundness (RD) and aspect ratio (AR) 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.Original Abstract: U radu se iznose rezultati morfometrijske analize otolita brgljuna Engraulis encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758), srdele Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792), skuse Scomber scombrus Linnaeus, 1758, lokarde Scomber japonicus Houttuyn, 1780 i iglice Belone belone (Linnaeus, 1761). Za svaku je istrazivanu vrstu analizirano po 30 jedinki koje potjecu iz lovina ostvarenih na podrucju istocnog dijela Jadrana tijekom razdoblja sijecanj - prosinac 2005. godine. Na temelju analize triju faktora oblika otolita (FF, RD, AR) je uoceno da postoji statisticki znacajna razlika izmedju otolita promatranih pelagicnih vrsta riba. Znacajna linearna korelacija je utvrdjena izmedju najvece duzine otolita (LO) i ukupne duzine tijela ribe (LT) kao i mase otolita (WO) i ukupne duzine tijela ribe (LT) - s porastom ukupne duzine tijela analizirane pelagicne vrste se proporcionalno povecavala najveca duzina otolita i masa otolita.