Liew, Khai Jing (2010) Morphological study of blue spotted maskray, Neotrygon kuhlii (rajiformes: dasyatidae) from Sabah waters. Universiti Malaysia Sabah. (Unpublished)
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Abstract
This is a preliminary study about the morphological features of blue spotted maskray, Neotrygon kuhlii from Sabah waters. This study is aimed at determining the intraspecific morphological variations of N. kuhlii relative to its gender and variant life stages. A total of 40 specimens which have disc width range between 174.0 mm to 375.0 mm were examined. Nine specimens were collected from fish trawlers in Pitas (Kudat Zone); ten were collected from fishermen through the Sabah Fish Marketing (SAFMA) wharf in Kota Kinabalu (West Coast Zone); and 21 were collected from Sandakan (East Coast Zone) through trawling. Specimens were collected from July 2009 to January 2010. Out of the 40 specimens, 16 were spot types (40.0%); 17 were ring types (42.5%) and seven combination patterns (17.5%). Spot type N. kuhlii consists mostly of specimens with disc width of more than 300.0 mm (75.0%) whereas majority of the ring type N. kuhlii had disc width ranging from 200.0 mm to 300.0 mm (76.5%). There was no fuzzy spot type found in this study. Rays with combination pattern were evenly distributed in all ranges of disc width. In this study, combination pattern indicates transition stage of rays between different life stages. Rays with different spotting pattern did not show significant morphological variation. Female and male rays shared a similar spotting pattern. This study showed that the variation of colour patterns occurs depending on life stage instead of gender and species variation. This is the first study to describe the change of colour patterns relative to their life stage.
| Item Type: | Academic Exercise |
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| Keyword: | blue spotted maskray, gender, life stages |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QL Zoology |
| Department: | SCHOOL > School of Science and Technology |
| Depositing User: | ADMIN ADMIN |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Jul 2016 11:16 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Nov 2017 11:32 |
| URI: | https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/13591 |
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