Morphometric comparison of pumpkinseed (Centrarchidae) populations in Poland

Abstract

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The pattern of morphometric differentiation between two populations of pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) inhabiting distinctively different habitats in north-west Poland was examined. Fish were collected at sites that differ in water temperature and hydrology – an ambient temperature, urban pond vs an artificially-heated drainage channel, respectively. In principal component analysis, the first and second components, which accounted for 40% and 11 %, respectively, of the variability between the habitat types, revealed that the observed differences were related to head and body dimensions, with specimens from the heated site having generally larger heads, higher bodies, and longer anterior components. Larger body size is normally associated with greater survival in unnatural and highly variable environments. This study was funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (decision No DEC-2011/01/D/NZ8/01807).

Keywords

• Habitat type
• Lepomis gibbosus
• Alien fish
• Morphological measurements
• Water temperature regime