Ontogenetic scaling of disc width with total length in west African batoids
Gayford, Joel, Seamone, Scott G., and Seidu, Issah (2025) Ontogenetic scaling of disc width with total length in west African batoids. Evolutionary Ecology, 39 (1). pp. 135-147.
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Abstract
Morphological scaling describes changes in the size or shape of one morphological character (e.g. mass, length, width, area etc.) as another increases in size. Understanding how morphological characters scale with body size can shed light on how natural selection influences morphology, and the nature of ecomorphological relationships through ontogeny. Batoids (Elasmobranchii: Batoidea) are a highly specialised lineage of cartilaginous fishes displaying extreme dorsoventral flattening. Despite this, little is known about morphological scaling in batoids compared to sharks. In this study we test the relationship between disc width and total length in five batoid species (Torpedo torpedo, Mobula tarapacana, Fontitrygon margarita, Raja parva, Rhinobatos irvinei) representing four orders that differ in both ecology and morphology, measured from artisanal fisheries in Western and Central Ghana. Whilst a lack of existing ecological data presents some limitations, our results are broadly consistent with ecomorphological theory previously applied to sharks. Moreover, we find that for some lineages (including some myliobatiform taxa) total length may represent a valid proxy for estimating overall body size. This finding has applications for body size and shape estimation in partially processed batoids obtained from fishing camps, and extinct taxa known only from incomplete or fragmented remains.
| Item ID: | 88347 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1573-8477 |
| Keywords: | Allometry, Body size, Elasmobranchii, Isometry, Rays, Stingray |
| Copyright Information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Apr 2026 22:51 |
| FoR Codes: | 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3104 Evolutionary biology > 310405 Evolutionary ecology @ 50% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 50% |
| SEO Codes: | 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences @ 100% |
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