Do We Need the Third Dimension? Quantifying the Effect of the Z-axis in 3D Geometric Morphometrics Based on Sailfin Silversides (Telmatherinidae)

This study investigated the impact of the third dimension in geometric morphometrics (GM) using sailfin silversides (Telmatherinidae) from the Malili Lakes of Sulawesi (Indonesia). The three morphospecies of the monophyletic "roundfin" radiation are laterally compressed and vary in shape traits. The results of 2D and 3D GM were compared and quantified to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both methods for closely related species and their sexes. This approach focused on the head because it is far more complex and three-dimensionally structured than the trunk or the caudal region. The results revealed no significant benefit concerning repeatability and measurement error in 3D GM compared to 2D GM. The z-axis contributed substantially to the variance of the 3D data set but was irrelevant for discrimination of species and sexes in the approach. Limited gain in information was contrasted by substantially higher effort for 3D compared to the 2D analyses. The study concluded that 2D GM is the more efficient shape analysis approach for discriminating roundfins. Broader studies are needed to test which of the two methods is more efficient in distinguishing laterally compressed fishes in general. For future studies, due to the high investment required, this study recommends carefully evaluating the necessity of 3D GM. If in doubt, this study suggests testing for congruence between 2D and 3D GM with a subsample and consequently applying 2D GM in the case of high congruence.