Phylogeography of Lionfishes (Pterois) Indicate Taxonomic Over Splitting and Hybrid Origin of the Invasive Pterois volitans

Abstract

The lionfish is an iconic marine fish, and recently renowned for a disastrous introduction into the West Atlantic. Genetic surveys of the putative invaders (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles) in their natural Indo-Pacific range can illuminate both topics. Previous research indicated that P. volitans and P. miles are sister species that hybridize in the invasive range, but hybridization in the native range is unknown. Here, we apply mtDNA COI and 2 nuclear introns (S7 RP1 and Gpd2) from 229 lionfish including the 2 invaders and 2 closely-related taxa (44 P. miles, 91 P. volitans, 31 Pterois lunulata, and 63 Pterois russelii) from 10 locations in their native ranges. Genetic data are supplemented with key morphological characters: dorsal, anal, and pectoral fin ray counts. We observed 2 lineages (d = 4.07%, 0.89%, and 2.75% at COI, S7 RP1, and Gpd2, respectively) among the 4 putative species: an Indian Ocean lineage represented by P. miles, and a Pacific Ocean lineage represented by P. lunulata and P. russelii. All specimens of the invasive P. volitans appear to be hybrids between the Indian Ocean P. miles and a Pacific lineage encompassing P. lunulata/russelii, a conclusion supported by both genetics and morphology. The divergences between Indian and Pacific forms are within the range of species-level partitions in fishes, and we recommend retention of the names P. miles and P. russelii for Indian and Pacific forms. The hybrid origin of the Atlantic invasion invokes the possibility of heterosis as a contributing factor to invasion success.

The lionfish Pterois sp. invasion: Has the worst‐case scenario come to pass?

“…(b)], how best to survey them (Green et al, ; Tilley et al, ; Bacheler et al, ), their movement patterns (Tamburello & Côté, ; Bacheler et al, ; Benkwitt, ) and their genetic structure (Hamner et al, ; Freshwater et al, ; Betancur‐R et al, ; Toledo‐Hernández et al, ; Butterfield et al, ; Johnson et al, ). There is also recent molecular evidence that P. volitans in the native range might in fact be a hybrid between two sister lineages (Indian Ocean P. miles x Pacific Ocean Pterois russelii Bennett 1831; Wilcox et al, ). This could partly explain both the extraordinary performance of lionfish in the invaded range ( i.e .…”

Trait‐mediated foraging drives patterns of selective predation by native and invasive coral‐reef fishes

“…Coral-reef fish communities are the most diverse vertebrate assemblages on Earth, with predators and prey exhibiting a broad array of morphologies and behaviors (Hixon 1991). Caribbean coral-reef fish communities have recently been invaded by predatory Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles; Côt e et al , Wilcox et al 2018. Thus, this system provides an excellent model for studying how variation in behavioral traits mediates the strength of consumptive interactions (Fig.…”

Population genomics of rapidly invading lionfish in the Caribbean reveals signals of range expansion in the absence of spatial population structure

“…Pterois volitans is the most common species in the invasion, with P. miles mostly restricted to the northern part of the invaded range (Freshwater et al, ). While there has been speculation that P. volitans and P. miles could hybridize in the invaded range, Wilcox, Motomura, Matsunuma, and Bowen () presented phylogenetic evidence that the lineage known as P. volitans in the invaded range may in fact represent a hybrid lineage between P. miles and another Pacific Ocean Pterois species. The present study focuses on the P. volitans lineage as it has historically been defined and uses that species name, while recognizing that there may be unresolved phylogenetic treatment of Pterois .…”