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Otolith morphology of four mackerel species (Scomberomorus spp.) in Australia : Species differentiation and prediction for fisheries monitoring and assessment
Zischke, Mitchell T. Litherland, Lenore Tilyard, Benjamin R. Stratford, Nicholas J. Jones, Ebony L. Wang, You-Gan
Zischke, Mitchell T.
Litherland, Lenore
Tilyard, Benjamin R.
Stratford, Nicholas J.
Jones, Ebony L.
Wang, You-Gan
Abstract
Four species of large mackerels (Scomberomorus spp.) co-occur in the waters off northern Australia and are important to fisheries in the region. State fisheries agencies monitor these species for fisheries assessment; however, data inaccuracies may exist due to difficulties with identification of these closely related species, particularly when specimens are incomplete from fish processing. This study examined the efficacy of using otolith morphometrics to differentiate and predict among the four mackerel species off northeastern Australia. Seven otolith measurements and five shape indices were recorded from 555 mackerel specimens. Multivariate modelling including linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machines, successfully differentiated among the four species based on otolith morphometrics. Cross validation determined a predictive accuracy of at least 96% for both models. An optimum predictive model for the four mackerel species was an LDA model that included fork length, feret length, feret width, perimeter, area, roundness, form factor and rectangularity as explanatory variables. This analysis may improve the accuracy of fisheries monitoring, the estimates based on this monitoring (i.e. mortality rate) and the overall management of mackerel species in Australia.
Keywords
otolith shape, S. commerson, S. munroi, S. queenslandicus, S. semifasciatus, sagittae, scombridaea
Date
2016
Type
Journal article
Journal
Fisheries Research
Book
Volume
176
Issue
Page Range
39-47
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education (ILSTE)
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled