• 한국패류학회지
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.345-351
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• 2011

Comparison of different morphological characteristics of bivalves is very useful for distinguishing species. Therefore, this study used a morphometric approach to document patterns of phenotypic change through the specimens of family Pinnidae inhabiting the bottom sediments at the coasts of An Thoi Archipelago (south-eastern Gulf of Thailand), in that way excluding intraspecific variations among different populations along a wide geographical range. It was revealed that individuals determined as Pinna trigonium separated from specimens of Pinna nigra and Atrina vexillum at high level, but P. nigra and A. vexillum were the single species A. vexillum, as it is assumed now. Also, it was found that both groups of P. trigonium individuals and A. vexillum specimens divided into tree subgroups unified the specimens with the similar morphometric parameters: small, medium and large within the populations, though there were no evident divisions into subgroups in the size distributions of the populations. In addition to the interspecific morphological variations, the species also showed significant intraspecific morphological variations even in the same population. Most probable reason for the appearance of the intraspecific morphological variations and division of all specimens into size-specific subgroups in the population is the fact that the growth of Pinnidae bivalves is not isometric.