Table 2. Comparing adult male and female zebrafish body dimensions.
In order to normalize for differential survival and resulting clutch size of Cd-treated fish, various measurements were made and expressed as ratios of body length. This table shows that although males and female fish differed in size, certain morphometric ratios were consistent. In addition to compensating for clutch size, this normalization also allowed for comparative analysis without separating the sexes.
Sex | L (cm) | W (g) | ED (mm) | TA (mm2) | BW (mg) | W/L | ED/L | TA/L | BW/L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M (44) | 3.25 ± 0.05 | 0.28 ± 0.01 | 2.34 ± 0.04 | 1.99 ± 0.07 | 7.4 ± 0.3 | 0.085 ±0.003 | 0.72 ± 0.01 | 0.60 ± 0.01 | 2.27 ± 0.07 |
F (59) | 3.45 ± 0.04 | 0.39 ± 0.02 | 2.48 ± 0.03 | 2.24 ± 0.06 | 8.1 ± 0.2 | 0.109 ±0.004 | 0.72 ± 0.01 | 0.60 ± 0.01 | 2.35 ± 0.05 |
p | 0.001 | 0.0001 | 0.0025 | 0.012 | 0.03 | 0.0001 | 0.69 | 0.71 | 0.36 |
The values were similar regardless of whether we grouped fish from all treatment groups or just untreated fish. Abbreviations are included for males (M), females (F), body length (L), body weight (W), eye diameter (ED), telencephalic area (TA), and brain weight (BW). Bold values are statistically significant, with p-values listed resulting from two-tailed t-tests comparing males and females. The numbers of measured fish are given in parentheses under M and F and the values include ± SEM.