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Non-lethal measurement of pectoral fin aspect ratio in coral-reef fishes
1ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Evolution, Ecology and Genetics, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 Australia. sandra.binning@anu.edu.au
Abstract:
This study describes a novel method for measuring pectoral fin aspect ratio (AR) on live coral-reef fishes and tests the method against traditional measurements taken from a dissected fin. No significant differences were detected among repeated fin measurements, which validates the accuracy (intact v. dissected) and precision (repeatability over several days) of fin AR measurements on live fishes. One exception highlighted issues that may arise when working with species prone to fin damage.
