Morphometric shape analysis of otolith from selected goby fishes

Four selected fish otolith of Goby species, Glossogobius celebius, Glossogobius giuris, Awaous ocellaries, and Awaous melanocephalus were compared in this study using Elliptic Fourier SHAPE analysis. Kruskal-Wallis and Discriminant Function Analysis of shape data show significant differences in otolith shapes between species. The observed otolith shapes of the gobies provide a good taxonomic tool to separate the species of this genus. The diversity and complexity in otolith shapes may also be considered important for fisheries scientists, archeologists and for the discrimination of other species of this complex genus of fish