Morphometric Variation of large scale tongue sole Cynoglossus arel (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) in the north of Persian Gulf

The present study was performed to aim the comparison of the body shape of large scale tongue sole (C. arel) fish from coastal waters of north Persian Gulf. To fulfill this purpose, a total of 120 fish individuals captured by bottom trawlers from the four stations of Kangan, Bushehr, Daylam, and Abadan were used. In order to study traditional morphometrics, 13 morphometric traits (measurable) and 6 meristic traits (countable) were selected and examined. Results of morphometric and meristic comparison showed a significant overlap among studied populations. Based on these results, the total length of fish was measured from 206.51 to 265.04 mm, 110-130 soft rays from the dorsal fin, 10-16 soft rays from the caudal fin and 82-98 soft rays from anal fin were counted. The mean number of scales between two lateral lines was 7.72. Comparison of means resulted from traditional morphometric study revealed no significant differentiation between different stations. The results of geometric morphometrics revealed significant differences between the studied stations in that the highest difference was belonged to specimens from Abadan and Kangan, whereas the lowest difference was observed in the specimens from Bushehr and Daylam samples. Based on the results of the present study, it can be concluded that geometric morphometric method possesses higher potential to discriminate populations of the studied species compared to the traditional method.