Common sole, Solea solea (Linnaeus 1758) in Izmir Bay, Aegean Sea: A special morphometric approach to dimorphic structures

The Mediterranean is a significant region for marine (Yildiz et al., 2020) fish particularly flatfish species with high commercial value. The common sole, Solea sp. (Linnaeus 1758) is a flat fish species that has high commercial importance in Turkey as well as in the whole world. Turkey's most important sole fishing areas are Gulluk Bay, Karina and Izmir Bay in Aegean Sea (Uluturk et al., 2012). As known, morphological characteristics are crucial in defining species or subspecies and serve as the primary basis of systematic science (Chan, 2001). However, biometric characters' similarities or differences vary due to geographical variations (Ezzat et al., 1975). Therefore, understanding population characteristics and growth dimorphisms between sexes across various geographical areas is vital for these economically important flatfish species. Although studies on biological characteristics of Solea solea exist (Amara et al., 2007; Parma et al., 2019; Cerim and Ates, 2020), research on whether growth causes any morphometric differentiation in both sexes is insufficient, considering the length groups. This study aims to determine the dimorphism in growth and geographic characters in the S. solea, caught from the Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkiye, depending on sexes and length groups, using morphometric combinations, which are an integral part of biological studies.