Piotr Baranowski; Katarzyna Pezinska-Kijak; Lidia Felska-Blaszczyk; Krzysztof Zuk; Piotr Nowak; Joanna Kosecka; Kamila Oczeretko; Peter Chukwu* & Pawel Mazur

Summary

This study aimed at answering the question whether production of new colour variants of American mink in mink farms using mutations may entail changes in skull morphology and relationships between the bone elements building it. Analyses were made on the skulls of 56 eight-month-old males and females of two American mink colour variants (standard Brown and mutant Sapphire) from the same farm. Mean values, standard deviations and coefficients of variation were determined for carcass weight, cranial and mandibular weights and 7 dorsal surface, 8 lateral surface and 11 basal surface traits of the skull. The values of 24 cranial and mandibular indices and the values of sexual size dimorphism (SSD), i.e. a coefficient describing differences between sexes, were calculated. It was demonstrated that mutant colour variants of American mink may be a significant source of variation (P0.05 and P0.01) for some traits of skull morphology and relationships between respective bone elements of viscerocranium and neurocranium.

KEY WORDS: Biometry; Neovison vison; Viscerocranium; Neurocranium; Skull.

How to cite this article