American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry 2014; 2(2): 45-50 Published online March 30, 2014 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ajaf) doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20140202.15 Distribution and morphometric characters of the Mediterranean brown ray, Raja miraletus (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae) in the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia, Central Mediterranean) Hasna Kadri 1, 2 * , Sondes Marouani 1, 2 , Mohamed Nejmeddine Bradai 1 , Abderrahmen Bouaïn 2 , Eric Morize 3 1 Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer, Centre de Sfax, B.P. 1035, Sfax 3018, Tunisie 2 Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, B.P. 802, Sfax 3028, Tunisie 3 Lemar/ IRD 230 Broennou, 29870 Landéda, France Email address: hasnakadri@yahoo.fr (H. KADRI) To cite this article: Hasna Kadri, Sondes Marouani, Mohamed Nejmeddine Bradai, Abderrahmen Bouaïn, Eric Morize. Distribution and Morphometric Characters of the Mediterranean Brown Ray, Raja Miraletus (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae) in the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia, Central Mediterranean). American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry. Vol. 2, No. 2, 2014, pp. 45-50. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20140202.15 Abstract: To determine some morphometric characters of the Mediterranean brown ray Raja miraletus Linnaeus, 1758 in the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia), samples were analysed and described on data from the commercial trawl at monthly intervals between December 2006 and January 2007. A total of 501 male and 629 female specimens were collected during the sampling period. The largest (in terms of Total length: TL) female and male were 58 cm and 56 cm, respectively. Some various morphmetric characters were measured. Relationships between the characters were defined separately for both sexe. Morphometric characters were strongly correlated with total length but the nature of allometry differed according to the characters. Keywords: Raja Miraletus, Morphometric and Numeric Characters, Gulf of Gabes, Mediterranean Sea 1. Introduction Skates (order Rajiformes) are one of the most speciose elasmobranch orders and include at least 27 genera and more than 245 species (Ebert and Compagno 2007). Skates are important elements of the marine biodiversity, but they are highly vulnerable to commercial Exploitation (Barbara 2010). The brown ray, Raja miraletus Linnaeus, 1758 is a medium-sized skate inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea and the western African coast (Séret and Opic 1990; Serena et al. 2010). Despite the increasing fishing pressure, there is a paucity of information on the life history of R. miraletus resulting in an assessment of ‘minor preoccupation’ on IUCN Red List assessments for chondrichthyans in the Mediterranean Sea (Cavanagh and Gibson 2007). Information on distribution species is reported for some Mediterranean areas (Capapé and Quignard 1974a; 1974b; 1975; Capapé and Azouz 1975; Abdel-Aziz 1992; a n d Relini et al. 1999) including the Central Adriatic Sea (Zupanovic 1961; Jardas 1973; Jardas 1981), but data from Southern Tunisia are scanty. Therefore, morphometric conversions are particularly helpful when, for example, a specimen is damaged, or when dealing with commercially preprocessed specimens, in which not all morphometric traits can be measured. As conversion factors differ between species, they may also serve as a tool for species identification, or for accurate identification of problematic specimens. This is particularly important at landing ports where fish need to be identified on site. In the present paper some features of the brown ray biology in the Southern Adriatic are reported, in order to add information referring to the just mentioned basin. These data were compared with results from other Mediterranean marine areas, in order to highlight possible intraspecific variations of life parameters among different populations. The present work focuses on some morphometric characters.