Estimation of body size from the beaks of eight sepiolid species (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

AÇIK ÇINAR Ş., SALMAN M. A.

MOLLUSCAN RESEARCH, cilt.30, sa.3, ss.154-164, 2010 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 30 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2010
  • Dergi Adı: MOLLUSCAN RESEARCH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.154-164
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Beak dimensions, Coleoidea, predation, JUVENILE CEPHALOPODS, AEGEAN SEA
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Sepiolidae play an important role in the marine ecosystem as their beaks occur frequently in the stomach contents of whales, sword fish and tuna. To enable the estimation of body size and biomass, the biometrical measurements of upper (5 dimensions) and lower (5 dimensions) beaks of sepiolid specimens were plotted against both mantle length and body weights of intact animals of eight species of Sepiolidae (Sepiola intermedia, Sepiola robusta, Sepiola steenstrupiana, Sepietta oweniana, Sepietta neglecta, Rossia macrosoma, Neorossia caroli and Heteroteuthis dispar) from the coasts of Turkey. Significant differences observed among the beak ratio means and structural characteristics are used to construct a key for upper beaks of the eight species. Some upper (hood, crest and basal lengths) and lower beak (wing, basal and crest lengths) measurements were found to be particularly useful for estimating the mantle length of the species examined. The results of the present study, especially data for the lower beaks of specimens, were qualitatively compared with those of the previous studies carried out in different zoogeo-graphic regions.