To glue or not to glue? Reassembling broken otoliths for population discrimination

Citation

Bardarson H, McAdam BJ, Petursdottir G & Marteinsdottir G (2014) To glue or not to glue? Reassembling broken otoliths for population discrimination. Journal of Fish Biology, 84 (5), pp. 1626-1633. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12390

Abstract
Twenty-five Atlantic cod Gadus morhua otoliths were examined using eight shape measurements along with Fourier analysis of their outlines to test whether discrimination using otolith shape is affected by gluing broken otoliths. Small differences in seven of the eight shape measurements were found between unbroken otoliths and the same otoliths after breaking and subsequently gluing together; however, none of the Fourier descriptors differed. Cluster analyses indicated that resultant morphological differences will have no impact when applying discriminant analysis.

Keywords
cluster analysis; Fourier analysis; gluing; morphology; otolith archives; shape measurements

Journal
Journal of Fish Biology: Volume 84, Issue 5