A central objective of ecological research is to understand the causes and links of diversity. Trophic and morphological variation has been recognized as the baseline to determine communities’ functional arrangement; however, few morphological structures have been explored. In the present study, the fish assemblage of two contrasting localities within the Gulf of Mexico, the Campeche Bank (CB) and the Perdido Fold Belt (PFB), was examined to (1) analyse and compare the size, weight, trophic, and morphological (fish body and otolith) variation and (2) test if the otoliths morphological variation can be used to estimate the fish-body variation. Fish and otolith size, fish and stomach–intestine weight, and stomach content were determined and geometric morphometric methods were applied to the fish body and otoliths. The fish body shows a relationship with the weight measurement and the otolith size, no differences in these variables were found between the two localities. In both localities Annelida, Mollusca, Osteichthyes, and Crustacean are the most common preys; however, the CB assemblage was more diverse in both diet and morphology and six trophic groups and 18 ecomorphological groups were determined, while in PFB, four trophic groups and 13 ecomorphological groups were determined. Finally, according to the morphological comparison in both localities, the otolith variation can be used to estimate the fish-body morphological diversity. This study reports important information in the understanding of the links between morphological structures and highlights the importance of the otoliths as a morphological variable that reflects a wide range of ecomorphological variation of the fish body.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥湾两个不同地区鱼类功能排列的比较

生态研究的一个核心目标是了解多样性的原因和联系。营养和形态变异已被公认为确定群落功能安排的基线；然而，很少有形态结构被探索。在本研究中，对墨西哥湾坎佩切河岸 (CB) 和佩迪多褶皱带 (PFB) 两个对比鲜明的地区的鱼类群落进行了检查，以 (1) 分析和比较大小、重量、营养和形态（鱼体和耳石）变异和（2）测试耳石形态变异是否可用于估计鱼体变异。确定了鱼和耳石的大小、鱼和胃-肠重量以及胃内容物，并将几何形态测量方法应用于鱼体和耳石。鱼体显示出与重量测量和耳石大小的关系，两个地方之间没有发现这些变量的差异。在这两个地方，Annelida、软体动物、Osteichthyes 和甲壳动物是最常见的猎物；然而，CB 组合在饮食和形态上更加多样化，确定了 6 个营养组和 18 个生态形态组，而在 PFB 中，确定了 4 个营养组和 13 个生态形态组。最后，根据两地的形态比较，耳石变异可用于估计鱼体形态多样性。