Pauers et al. - Labeotropheus morphology for Character Displacement Study

This file contains the data used to examine morphological and meristic characteristics among several populations of Labeotropheus in Lake Malawi/Nyasa. We used these data to determine whether or not character displacement had occurred between sympatric L. trewavasae and L. fuelleborni. Briefly, we did find that, when they were found in sympatry, L. trewavasae had a different maxillofacial morphology than when it was found allopatric from a deep-bodied Labeotropheus akin to L. fuelleborni.

The individual morphological measurements, taken by MJP with digital calipers, are found in columns J-AM in the uploaded Excel sheet. The abbreviations include:
HL: head length
SL standard length
Pec: pectoral fin
DF: dorsal fin
DFO: origin of the dorsal fin
DFI: insertion of the dorsal fin
AFO: origin of the anal fin
AFI: insertion of the anal fin
VCF: ventral attachment of the caudal fin
DCF: dorsal attachment of the caudal fin
UJL: upper jaw length
LJL: lower jaw length
LJW: lower jaw width
IOW: interorbital width
SnW: snout width
Tab-Tab: width at the opercular tabs
Pec-Pec: width at the pectoral fins
Pel-Pel: width at the pelvic fins
LLS: lateral line scales
ScDL: dorsolateral scale rows
ScPP: Pectoropelvic scale rows
DFS: Dorsal fin spines
DFR: dorsal fin rays
AFS: anal fin spines
AFR: anal fin rays
GR: Gill rakers
MORPH 1: 1st morphological principal component
MORPH 2-5: 2nd-5th SHEARED morphological principal components

Following Pauers (2016, 2017), we used the 2nd sheared principal component as a proxy for body shape.

All specimens used in this study were captured with the cooperation and collaboration of the Malawi Department of Fisheries (Titus B. Phiri, Deputy Director) and the Tanzanian Fisheries Research Institute (Peter N. Gabagambi, Head of Kyels Station, and Asilatu Shechonge).