Abstract

Sagitta otolith morphology of marine fishes has been used in many eco-morphological studies to explain certain ecological adaptations of species to their habitats. This study focused on otolith shape baselines to evaluate their applicability in discriminating samples of Spicara maena. The studied species samples were caught with artisanal fishing gear from the North Sea of Tunisia (Bizerte). Analysis of variance of the otolith contour revealed that specimens in the investigated zones showed no significant inter-population variability in otolith form. This finding confirms the existence of a single stock of Spicara maena in the northern region of Tunisia.

Keywords: Otolith; Morphology; Fishery; Stock discrimination; Spicara maena