Preliminary biometrical study of Eunicella singularis (Esper, 1794) (Gorgonacea, Anthozoa) from Aegean sea

Using SCUBA, 105 gorgonian colonies of Eunicella singularis were sampled randomly from Eleutherides islands (Strimonikos Golf, North Aegean sea), within a depht range of -5m to -18m. The temperature was 26 degrees C at -10m and 20 degrees C at -18m. The normality test demonstrate a significant unimodal distribution for the length (L: t = 0.123, p = 0.103, n = 105), the number of dichotomies (nb. dich. : t = 0.164, p = 0.047, n = 105), the dry weight (P.S.: t = 0.214, p = 0.021, n = 105) and the surface (S: t = 0.160, p = 0.118, n = 55). Multiple regression analysis demonstrates also the importance of the number of dichotomies and the values of the surface at determination of the dry weight (biomass). Highly significant allometric relathionships, were determinated between Height/Lenght-Dry Weight (H/L = 0.5 x P.S.(-0.3) [n = 105, r = 0.7, F = 124.6, p = 0.0001]), Surface-Dry Weight (S = 3.1 x P.S.(0.3) [n = 55, r = 0.9, F = 293.8, p = 0.0001]) and Surface-Number of dichotomies (S = 2.3 x nb. dich.(1) [n = 105, r = 0.9, F = 227.9, p = 0.0001]).