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First published online June 29, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 2436-2443 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.004275

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Morphological predictors of swimming speed: a case study of pre-settlement juvenile coral reef fishes

Rebecca Fisher^* and J. Derek Hogan

Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, N9B3P4, Canada

View larger version (34K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Morphological measurements of pre-settlement juveniles, including: total length (TL; outer edge of the caudal fin to the tip of the upper jaw), caudal fin length (CFL; tip of the caudal fin to the caudal peduncle), body depth (BD; height at the deepest region), body area (BA; area in lateral view excluding the fins), propulsive area (PA; area including the fins (naturally fully extended) but excluding the head and gut region where they are inflexible or lack overlaying muscle and can not be used for propulsion), muscle area (MA; area excluding the fins and the head and gut region), caudal fin depth (CFD; widest section when fully extended), caudal peduncle depth (CPD; height at the narrowest point between the caudal fin and the fish's body) and caudal fin area (CFA; area with the caudal fins naturally fully extended).

View larger version (9K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Principal components (PC) analysis of five morphometric ratios across 26 families of pre-settlement juvenile fishes. The solid grey lines indicate the relative eigenvectors for each variable. The variables (also in grey) are defined in Table 1. Families: ac, Acanthuridae; ap, Apogonidae; an, Antennariidae; ba, Balistidae; ca, Carangidae; ch, Cheatodontidae; cl, Clupeidae; ge, Gerridae; ha, Haemulidae; ho, Holocentridae; la, Labridae; le, Lethrinidae; lu, Lutjanidae; mo, Monacanthidae; ne, Nemipteridae; no, Nomeidae; og, Ogcocephalidae; os, Ostraciidae; pa, Pomacanthidae; pe, Pomacentridae; ps, Pseudochromidae; se, Serranidae; si, Siganidae; sp, Sphyraenidae; tt, Tetraodontidae; tr, Terapontidae.

View larger version (12K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 3. The change in R2 (A) and Akaike weights, i (B, solid line) and the frequency different variables were included in the best-subsets model (for 1000 bootstrap iterations) as the number of parameters (k) included in the model is increased (C). The error and intercept terms make up the first two parameters of the model, and total length (TL) was forced as the first variable included (in order to account for size). The bars in B show the mean Akaike weight for each model size for 10 000 random iterations ± 1 s.e.m.

View larger version (10K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Selected best-fit predictive models for Ucrit swimming speeds for the 3-variable model obtained using the raw data (Table 2). The broken line shows the expected 1:1 relationship. Family abbreviations as in Fig. 2.

View larger version (15K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 5. An examination of the fit of the best-fit model (Fig. 4) across fishes from different regions (A; Great Barrier Reef, GBR, and Caribbean, CAR), with different swimming modes (B; C, caudal; P, pectoral; DV, dorso-ventral; PC, pectoral-caudal fin locomotors), adult habitat characteristics (C; D, `demersal'; P, `pelagic') and orders (D; B, Beryciformes; C, Clupeiformes; L, Lophiiformes; T, Tetraodontiformes). Asterisks indicate families that are considered an archetypical coral reef fish (see Bellwood, 1996). Because of their dominance in the dataset and their high diversity, the sub-orders of the order Perciformes are shown individually (symbols).