Abstract:Statistical morphological characteristics among three European populations (French, Spainish and Danish) and three Chinese farmed populations (Laizhou, Haiyang and Rizhao) of broodstock turbot, Scophthalmus maximus were revealed and compared on the basis of eight morphological indices using one-way ANOVA, principal components and clustering dendrogram analysis. The morphological difference among six populations was remarkable, but there was no isolation without overlap. The results of one-way ANOVA showed that there was notable difference between French and Rizhao population, Rizhao and Haiyang population were similar in morphology, and Danish population had the high bodily form. In principal components analysis, three principal components were constructed, and the contribution from the first, second and third principal component were 47.07%, 28.10% and 15.45%, respectively. The cumulative contribution rate was 90.62%. The results of clustering dendrogram indicated that the morphological variations of Laizhou and Haiyang populations were little, and they were similar to the French population. Rizhao and Spanish population were similar. The morphological variations between Danish population and other five populations were large. The morphological diversity of three European turbot populations was higher than the three farmed Chinese farmed populations.
