A New Species of Lycodapus from the Emperor Seamount Chain, Northwestern Pacific Ocean (Teleostei: Zoarcidae)

Abstract

A new species, Lycodapus imperatorius, is described from the seamounts of the Emperor Ridge, North Pacific Ocean. The new species can be identified by its stout gill rakers, single interorbital pore, four preopercular and four mandibular pores, 95–99 vertebrae, numerous vomerine and palatine teeth, and COI mtDNA sequences. Although the new species is most similar to L. endemoscotus and L. antarcticus in morphology, the closest match to already published sequences was Lycodapus fierasfer, which is fairly different from the new species in terms of morphology. The incongruence between molecular and morphological inferences might be explained by the homoplastic nature of the morphological characteristics used for species delimitation in Lycodapus. The percent of genetic identity between the closest species of Lycodapus ranges from 95.4 to 98.6% in comparison with 99.5–100.0% between individuals of the same valid species. A key of the genus is amended to include the new species.

First Record of the Northern Wolffish Anarhichas denticulatus Krøyer, 1845 (Anarhichadidae: Zoarcoidei: Perciformes) in the Siberian Arctic: Further Evidence of Atlantification?

“…At the same time, the minimum number of nucleotide substitutions (44) is recorded between Anarrichthys ocellatus and Anarhichas lupus. It should be noted that North Atlantic wolffishes are characterized by low genetic diversity and low population differentiation [67,68], which is not typical for many other marine fishes (e.g., [70][71][72][73]). The materials analyzed by us, although few in number, confirm the previous conclusions [68].…”

“…However, McCusker and Bentzen [67] using microsatellite loci showed the presence of genetic differences between samples from the Barents Sea and the rest of the North Atlantic. This may probably mean the presence of at It should be noted that North Atlantic wolffishes are characterized by low genetic diversity and low population differentiation [67,68], which is not typical for many other marine fishes (e.g., [70][71][72][73]). The materials analyzed by us, although few in number, confirm the previous conclusions [68].…”