Molecular and Phenotypic Characteristics of Short-Beaked Garfish Belone svetovidovi Collette and Parin, 1970 in a New Location, the Sea of Marmara

Abstract

There are two species of garfish belonging to the genus Belone (garfish B. belone and short-beaked garfish B. svetovidovi) in the coastal regions of Türkiye. It is known that Belone belone is distributed all around the Turkish coasts, and Belone svetovidovi is distributed only in the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts of Türkiye. These species’ morphological similarities and mainly overlapped morphological characters led to confusions for years. The present study represents the first detailed morphological and molecular analysis including twenty-two body portions and DNA barcode analysis of B. svetovidovi and reports the newly established populations in the Sea of Marmara with molecular and morphological evidences.