A multivariate morphometric investigation of Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810 and A. presbyter Cuvier, 1829 (Teleostei: Atherinidae): morphometric evidence in support of the two species

Two recently developed morphometric methodologies, multiple group principal components analysis (MGPCA) and the box truss method of body form transformation are used to re‐address whether Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810 and A. presbyter Cuvier, 1829 are morphometrically distinct. The results revealed that morphometric differences are present between A. boyeri and A. presbyter , consistent with expectations of the existence of two species. Females of the two species were clearly discriminated into two separate groups because the within‐group covariances of several characters within populations of each species were different between species i.e., the covariances were heteroscedastic. The occurrence of heteroscedasticity within the data, although statistically invalidating the results of canonical variates anslysis, indicated there to be a large amount of morphological variation between females of the two species. Males were differentiated as a result of differences in body ‘shape’, particularly the relationship between head ‘shape’ and body ‘shape’. Several probable reasons are given for the failure of a previous study to differentiate the two species. The data rejects the synonymy of the two species in support of the continued use of the taxa A. boyeri Risso, 1810 and A. presbyter Cuvier, 1829.