Observations on growth rate and allometry in the seasonal predatory killifish Nothobranchius ocellatus (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
During the course of a taxonomic study involving Nothobranchius ocellatus, a fast-growing seasonal killifish of predatory behaviour, important morphometric differences were observed between the original measurements of the lost holotype and the neotype and additional available material of the species. In a laboratory study, the total length (TL) of selected specimens was measured from hatching and, during the sub-adult to sexually mature young adult phase, from 37 to 84 days age, subjected to an additional suite of detailed morphometric measurements. Growth rate was relatively rapid and linear at 1.31.4 mm/day through the first phase to sexual maturity at 78 weeks, followed by a marked flattening of the growth curve with, from 14 weeks, rates of only about 1.0 mm/week in males and 0.6 mm/week in females. Under captive conditions, maximum TL for adult male specimens ranged from 101 to 116 mm and 88 to 102 mm for females. Analyses of the morphometric character measurements made during the 3784 day development phase showed allometric shape changes, primarily seen in body depth, head length and several other measures of head features, proportions of caudal peduncle, and length of fin bases. These changes are most prominently seen in males and changes in head proportions are important in relation to the predatory behaviour of the species. Morphometric differences between the immature holotype and the newly available material, including the neotype, are consistent with allometric shape variation, particularly in males of this species. Considering the seasonal life cycle common to all Nothobranchius species, and similar growth patterns, it is likely that allometric growth has broad relevance within the genus, suggesting it is a factor that should be taken into account in taxonomic endeavours, especially when the number of study specimens is limited.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".