Body shape changes during the early development of the Beluga (Huso huso)

Early body shape changes of beluga sturgeon were studied using landmark-based geometric morphometric approach to recognize its allometric growth pattern. Sampling was done from hatching up to 50 days post hatching (DPH). Left side of specimens were photographed using digital camera and nine landmark...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Reza Asgari, soheil Eagderi, Gholamreza Rafiee, Hadi Poorbagher, Naser Agh, Hamid Eshagh Zadeh
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: University of Tehran 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/868862f2394b4991ae6b82fed4e8e8dd
Description
Summary:Early body shape changes of beluga sturgeon were studied using landmark-based geometric morphometric approach to recognize its allometric growth pattern. Sampling was done from hatching up to 50 days post hatching (DPH). Left side of specimens were photographed using digital camera and nine landmark points were digitized on two-dimensional images. Total length (TI) was measured using the software ImageJ. To study of the body shape changes during early development, the mean procrustes distance between all specimens of same age, for all age groups, was calculated. The scores of relative warp analysis (RW) were used as descriptors for the variation in shape. RW analysis revealed a sharp body shape change during early ontogeny on 18 DPH. Growth trajectory was computed by plotting RW against TL. The inflection point of body shape corresponds to a TL of 23.3 mm (18 DPH). Results showed that ontogenetic shape changes encompassed a pre-inflection shape changes, which included the elongation of the head and tail regions i.e. positive allometric growth pattern and post-inflection shape changes, with a nearly isometric growth pattern.