What can goby otolith morphology tell us?
Dorothea Liebl contributed to this study, in which the informational value of otolith morphology in the family Oxudercidae (Gobioidei, Teleostei) is validated for the first time by quantitative data. Published in Cybium.
15.12.2018
Gierl C., Liebl D., Vukić J. Esmaeili H.R., & Reichenbacher B. (2018). What can goby otolith morphology tell us? Cybium, 42(4), 349–363. Link to the journal website.
The present study demonstrates (i) that otolith morphology is species-specific in the Oxudercidae, a diverse family of modern bony fishes, and (ii) that relationships between distinct otolith morphologies, biogeographical distribution and lifestyles can be clearly discerned. These results are important, because they enable us for the first time to draw reliable taxonomic, phylogenetic and biogeographical conclusions from fossil otoliths of this group.
