Özet:

Our  work  is  a  contribution  to  the  study  of  the  morphometric  dissimilarity  of  the  limpet Patella  caerulea  (Linnaeus,  1758)  inhabiting the seashore of the western Mediterranean Sea. For this study, 438 individuals of this species were sampled in 24 stations and separated into 2 groups of individuals: the first group (G1) originating from the upper infralittoral and the lower mediolittoral areas, and the second group (G2) originating from the upper mediolittoral area. The biometry of P. caerulea has been studied by considering the total length (L), the total width (W), and the total height (H) of the shell. These parameters revealed a strong positive correlation, and  were  used  for  the  principal  component  analysis  (PCA).  Other  combined  parameters  (L/W, L/H,  and  W/H)  were  added  for  the  discriminant  function  analysis  (DFA).  Both  multivariate  analyses  showed  that  both  groups  (G1  and  G2)  were  well  separated.  The  morphometric survey based on the calculation of the geometric mean (GM) and the gibbosity index (GIB) revealed the existence of a  morphological  dissimilarity  between  the  shells  of  groups  G1  (flattened  and  stocky)  and  G2  (high  and  short).  This  morphological  dissimilarity is discussed and compared with the results of other works on the same species and other related species.

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