Diaphus is one of the genera with the highest species abundance and the most abundant population in the family Myctophidae, and it is also the dominant group of deep sea fishes in the ocean. However, due to the high similarity of external morphology, it is difficult to identify the lanternfish species. In order to explore the feasibility of otoliths morphological analysis in identifying the otolith differences between Diaphus species with similar otoliths and large overlapping distribution areas, the otoliths of three Diaphus species were collected from the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea for morphometrics analysis with landmark method. The results showed that the morphological variation of sagittal otoliths in three lanternfishes were mainly in the internal main sulcus, and the internal punctuation contribution rate reached 62%. The grid difference visualization showed that the wing length of sagittal otoliths in D. thiollierei was longer than that of the other two species, while the width was slightly narrower. The Bayes function was used for classification and discrimination, and the results showed that the success rate of D. thiollierei was 100%, while the other two species had a few misjudgments. In addition, taking into account the habitat environment and the genetic relationship between these three species, we supposed that the main reason for the morphological differences in the main sulcus of the three spescies was the huge salinity difference in the habitat sea area. However, the impact and physiological mechanism of salinity on the morphology of the main sulcus of sagittal otoliths needs to be further studied.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |