Morphometric analysis of Muraena helena and Conger conger in the coastal waters of northern Tunisia
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Abstract
This study examined morphometric characteristics of 237 M. helena and 123 C. conger individuals collected from three sites located in the north coast of Tunisia (Bizerte, Ghar el melh and Haouaria). In M. helena, males seems larger than females; total length ranged from 494 to 1050 mm and from 490 to 976 mm, for males and females, respectively. Also the morphometric segregation is different between males and females according to the capture site. Morphological analysis showed that for males, the population of Ghar el melh presents a morphometric divergence. However, for females the population of Haouaria presents the higher values. The length of C. conger ranged from 490 to 1110 mm. Individuals of Ghar el melh and Haouaria presented similar morphometric characteristics, these two populations being morphologically different from Bizerte population.
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