Morphometric relationship and Size Based Variations In Species of Genus Megabalanus (Cirripedia, Balanidae): Giant Titan Barnacle

The morphology of adult barnacles belonging to the genus Balanus varies greatly, and understanding the extent of this diversity is essential for studying evolutionary trends and environmental dynamics. Morphometry is the measuring and analysis of physical traits of barnacle species, including their size, form, and structural features that help to discriminate between different species and ascertain their taxonomic relationships. To understand habiatat impact on barnacle morphometry may be done in a number of ways, including descriptive data for various morpho-parameters, univariate comparison (t-test), and regression analyses, are more systematic and powerful procedures. During the study, morphological features, allometric and image comparision analysis approaches were used to investigate the level of discrimination in between two barnacle species from the genus Megabalanus. The species M. coccopoma and M. tintinnabulum exhibited some morphological similarities by increasing the length of its rostrum and carina in relation to its basal diameter. Compared to M. coccopoma, M. tintinnabulum has a substantially higher relative growth rate as the b-value considerably differed from the theoretical value. According to the T-test, Tergum length demonstrates the substantial average difference between the two species. In addition, the M. coccopoma exhibited some age/size-based variation (Phenotypic variations) in basal diameter and plate structure that consistent in 3 size/ age based divisions.