Systematic relationships of sympatric pipefishes (Syngnathus spp.): A mismatch between morphological and molecular variation

Abstract

Analyses of mitochondrial DNA and morphological variation were performed on specimens of all five currently recognised Syngnathus pipefish species from the eastern Pacific Ocean with type localities currently considered to lie within the Californian marine biogeographic province: kelp pipefish Syngnathus californiensis, bay pipefish S. leptorhynchus, barred pipefish S. auliscus, barcheek pipefish S. exilis and chocolate pipefish S. euchrous. Results consistently differentiate S. auliscus from the other species and fail to distinguish all other specimens as distinct species, as indicated by extensive morphological overlap as well as incomplete lineage sorting and considerably low genetic divergence for 16s and coI genes(<1%). This study presents a taxonomic revision of eastern Pacific Syngnathus spp. and proposes the synonymy of S. leptorhynchus, S. euchrous and S. exilis, under the senior synonym, S. californiensis. There is still a need to study populations of Syngnathus spp. from north and south of the Californian province to assess whether these too are synonyms of the two‐species recognised here.

Complete mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic analysis of the Gray’s pipefish Halicampus grayi Kaup 1856

“…Due to the strong market demand of dried pipefish, the wild-caught specimens of H. grayi were often traded as main substitutions for Chinese medicinal pipefishes (Gao et al 2018). Furthermore, partial mitochondrial DNA barcoding markers of 16S and COI genes failed to distinguish certain pipefishes as distinct species (Garcia et al 2019). The Complete mitochondrial genome of Gray's pipefish could provide the basic molecular data and contribute to the development of molecular identification and further conservation strategy (Chen et al 2018;Zhu et al 2019).…”

Checklist of marine and estuarine fishes from the Alaska–Yukon Border, Beaufort Sea, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

“…Depth: surface, intertidal to 18 m (60 ft) (Fritzsche 1980). Garcia et al (2019) proposed that this species is a junior synonym of Syngnathus californiensis Storer, 1845. Syngnathus exilis (Osburn & Nichols, 1916).…”

“…: Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California). Garcia et al (2019) proposed that this species is a junior synonym of Syngnathus californiensis Storer, 1845. Syngnathus insulae Fritzsche, 1980.…”

Giant protists (xenophyophores) function as fish nurseries

“…DNA was extracted from one egg/embryo cluster found in each of the xenophyophores. An ~650 base‐pair fragment of Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) was then amplified and sequenced for each using standard primers and methods (see Garcia et al ). The sequences (deposited on GenBank, MN509400 and MN509401) were analysed with available COI data on GenBank using BLAST, a maximum likelihood phylogenetic approach (Stamatakis ) and also simple pairwise distances (see Garcia et al ; BLAST available online ).…”

“…An ~650 base‐pair fragment of Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) was then amplified and sequenced for each using standard primers and methods (see Garcia et al ). The sequences (deposited on GenBank, MN509400 and MN509401) were analysed with available COI data on GenBank using BLAST, a maximum likelihood phylogenetic approach (Stamatakis ) and also simple pairwise distances (see Garcia et al ; BLAST available online ). Taxon sampling for the phylogenetic analysis was based on the BLAST results against available sequences on GenBank and the studies by Knudsen et al () and Orr et al ().…”