Discriminating between geographical groups of a Mediterranean commercial clam (Chamelea gallina (L.): Veneridae) by shape analysis
Palmer, M.; Pons, G.X.; Linde, M. (2004). Discriminating between geographical groups of a Mediterranean commercial clam (Chamelea gallina (L.): Veneridae) by shape analysis. Fish. Res. 67(1): 93-98. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2003.07.006
In: Fisheries Research. Elsevier: Amsterdam. ISSN 0165-7836; e-ISSN 1872-6763, more
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| Keywords |
Chamelea gallina (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]; Mollusca [WoRMS]; Veneridae Rafinesque, 1815 [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal |
| Author keywords |
Inter-group discrimination; Image analysis; Outlines; Elliptic Fourier transformation; Canonical variate analysis; Biogeography; Chamelea gallina (L.); Mollusca; Veneridae; Mediterranean |
| Authors | | Top |
- Palmer, M.
- Pons, G.X.
- Linde, M.
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| Abstract |
The venerid clam Chamelea gallina is a popular food item around the Mediterranean countries, with clams differing in market price according to their origin. On Mallorca, autochthonous clams are 50–100% more valuable than those coming from the Adriatic Sea, the more important commercial fishery of the western Mediterranean. In order to promote the consumption of autochthonous clams and avoid fraud, the local government of the Balearic Islands inspects the source labelling of clams for sale. However, it is difficult to distinguish the Mallorcan clams from those coming from other sites only by visual inspection. Shape analysis is a possible discriminating procedure to be applied, but C. gallina is a rounded object apparently poorly suitable to be morphometrically analysed. Here we explore the discrimination power of a morphometric analysis that combines elliptic Fourier decomposition of the shell perimeter and canonical variate analysis. Specimens from Mallorca were well differentiated from those from Italy and NE Iberia (rate of erroneous assignment <1%), and were more similar to those from Andalucia (S. Iberia) and Formentera (Balearic Islands). Moreover, the analytical approach applied permits visual and intuitive interpretation of inter-group differences in shell outline. |
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