Morphological (body shape) and biting-dynamics quantitative data of parrotfishes Scarus ghobban and Scarus perrico from the Gulf of California

Datasets generated during the development of the paper titled “Body shape is related to locomotion, microhabitat use, and ecological role in two sympatric parrotfish species (Scarus ghobban and Scarus perrico) from the Gulf of California” (currently submitted to the journal "Marine Biology"), an ecomorphological study that evaluates a potential divergence between the body shapes of the two most abundant and widespread parrotfishes in the Eastern Pacific/Gulf of California, S. ghobban and S. perrico, and its relationship with their microhabitat use, considering several behavioural/ecological aspects of their feeding behaviour in situ, e.g. swimming mode, type of substratum, biting dynamics. 

The first dataset displays the coordinates of the 13 landmarks analysed in the geometric morphometric analysis (GMA) used to mathematically represent/compare the body forms of the S. ghobban (n = 33) and S. perrico (n = 17) adult specimens. Landmarks: (1) anterior tip of the snout; (2) point of intersection between the dorsal margin of the head and a hypothetical vertical line crossing the center of the eye; (3) anterior insertion of the dorsal fin; (4) posterior insertion of the dorsal fin; (5) dorsal insertion of the caudal fin; (6) ventral insertion of the caudal fin; (7) posterior insertion of the anal fin; (8) anterior insertion of the anal fin; (9) origin of the pelvic fin; (10) origin of the isthmus; (11) posteriormost end of the operculum; (12) upper insertion of the pectoral fin; (13) lower insertion of the pectoral fin. 

The second dataset exhibits the three biting dynamics parameters of both S. ghobban (n = 62) and S. perrico (n = 73) adult individuals feeding in situ, quantified via video recording. Parameters: (1) number of bites within a feeding foray (BFF); (2) feeding rate (FR); (3) bite duration (BD). The total length (TL) of each individual is also provided, since a potential relationship between TL and each of these three parameters was also evaluated within the study.