International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.28, 275-283
276
threadfin bream,
Nemipterus randalli
is a fairly new resident in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and its presence
was first reported by Golani and Sonin (2006), while its presence in Turkey were reported by Bilecenoglu and
Russell (2008), Gokoglu et al. (2009) and Gulsahin and Kara (2013). Therefore, this the first ever case of
abnormality to be reported for this species. Finally, the absence of pelvic fins in
Sparus aurata
is rare and the
present record adds information to the marine fish anomalies data base.
The aim of the present study was to document the cases of scoliosis, pugheadness and absence of pelvic fins
observed in
M. cephalus
,
N. randalli
and
S. aurata.
1 Materials and Methods
Three specimens of the teleost fishes,
M. cephalus
(Mugilidae, Total length, TL: 291 mm, Standard length, SL:
261 mm),
N. randalli
(Nemipteridae, TL: 150 mm, SL: 130 mm) and
S. aurata
(Sparidae, TL: 224 mm, SL: 197
mm,) suffering different skeletal aberration were captured from the Turkish waters (during 1
st
October 2014 to 19
th
August 2015). Specifically,
M. cephalus
was caught in the protected nature reserve of Köyceğiz-Dalyan, while
N.
randalli
and
S. aurata
were captured in Gökova Bay (Figure 1). The
M. cephalus
specimen was caught by set net
and specimens of
N. randalli
and
S. aurata
by trammel net. Ten normal specimens of each species were obtained
from the same fishing lot at the same fishing localities for comparison issues. Specimens‟ body and fins were
examined carefully for malformations, amputations and any other morphological anomalies.
Figure 1 Map showing sampling localities
For the case of scoliosis, the length of the vertebral column from the anterior margin of the first vertebra to the
posterior margin of the last vertebra was divided by fish total length to produce a ratio that is used to compare
abnormal with normal fish (Jawad et al., 2014). The angles formed at each side bend of the vertebral column were
measured using digital protractor. To assess the degree of deformity in the distorted individuals, the height of the
curvature of the spinal column (HC) was measured. This represents the depth of the curvature formed by the
abnormal vertebrae. The measurements were made using a digital caliper with accuracy of 0.01 mm. The depth of
curvature (DC) was calculated by the equation (Louiz et al., 2007):
DC = (HC / SL) ×100
where SL is the standard length of the fish.
