Differentiation of neotropical fish species with statistical analysis of fourier transform infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy data

• Published in: Applied spectroscopy Vol. 66; no. 7; p. 782
• Main Authors: Almeida, Francylaine S, Lima, Sandro M, Andrade, Luis H C, Súarez, Yzel R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.07.2012
• Subjects: Animals; Biomarkers - chemistry; Brazil; Discriminant Analysis; Fishes - classification; Fishes - genetics; Photoacoustic Techniques - methods; Phylogeny; Skin - chemistry; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared - methods; Brazil
• ISSN: 1943-3530
• DOI: 10.1366/11-06487

Fourier transform infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy (FTIR-PAS) was applied to nineteen fish species in Brazil's Upper Paraná River basin to identify differences in the structural composition of their scales. To differentiate the species, a canonical discriminant analysis was used to indicate the most important absorption peaks in the mid-infrared region. Significant differences were found in the chemical composition of scales among the studied fish species, with Wilk's lambda = 5.2 × 10(-6), F((13,18,394)) = 37.57, and P < 0.001, indicating that O-CH(2) wag at 1396 cm(-1) can be used as a biomarker of this species group. The species could be categorized into four groups according to phylogenetic similarity, suggesting that the O-CH(2) 1396 cm(-1) absorbance is related to the biological traits of each species. This procedure can also be used to complement evolutionary studies.