Morphological and biological study between populations of Diplodus Vulgaris (Sparidae) in Italy and Greece (Mediterranean sea)

Diplodus Vulgaris lives near to cost, in hard or sandy substratum, until a bathymetric of about 130 m, though there were find more frequent around 30 m (Fischer et al., 1987). This species constitutes an important resource of artisanal fishery in Sicily and in Greece. Objective of this work is Diplodus vulgaris populations study coming from different areas, to can value the possible differences among populations. A study on morphological characteristics among population coming from different fishing grounds was conduct. Multivariate statistical analysis of variance (MANOVA) and a unweighed pair-group average (UPGMA) applied to morphological characters was used to discriminate populations. The study of morphological characteristics of fishes was before the evolution of genetic techniques the main source of information for taxonomic and evolutionary studies. These fishery studies are focused on biological characters with relative variability on a short time scale. Such characters are usually phenotypic characters of adaptive significance and under the influence of natural selection, that present variability in space (Humphries, 1990, Karakousis et al., 1993, Vidalis et al., 1997). These studies can help in fishing management, when the stock composition and boundaries are unclear, therefore hamper effective management of the species. Different morphological adaptations happen to improve species fitness. So, the biological aspect of the species, particularly size structure, von Bertalanffy growth parameters and reproduction were studied.