Untangling the taxonomic ambiguities of the spotted seerfish, Scomberomorus guttatus with description of a new species from India

Abdussamad, E M and Thomas, Toji and Margaret Muthu Rathinam, A and Mini, K G and Rajesh, K M and Azeez, P A and Vinothkumar, R and Retheesh, T B and Mohammed, Abbas A and Ismail, Shihab and Sneha, M G and Rohit, Prathibha and Gopalakrishnan, A (2023) Untangling the taxonomic ambiguities of the spotted seerfish, Scomberomorus guttatus with description of a new species from India. Journal of Fish Biology. pp. 1-41. ISSN 1095-8649

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Abstract

Scomberomorus guttatus, have been subjected to a series of synonym assignations over the years. Their taxonomy has been mired with ambiguities due to the greater-than-average morphological variations observed in samples from different regions. An integrated taxonomic revision with molecular support indicated that the species which was thought to be a single entity, in reality, is a complex of three distinct species. They are morphologically distinct: in view of the body depth and elongation, cephalic morphometry and meristic characteristics. Otolith morphometry and phylogenetic evidence further established the taxonomic divergence within the spotted seerfish complex. The phylogenetic characteristic as indicated by the mitochondrial COI sequence unveiled that S. guttatus had an high intraspecific divergence of 11.1% from its two identical congeners and a divergence of 2.34% between the congeners, indicating scope for categorizing them as separate species. Based on the morphological and molecular evidences S. guttatus is redescribed, the senior synonym, S. leopardus is resurrected as a valid species and a new species Scomberomorus avirostrus n. sp.. is described with keys for species distinction.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Scomberomorus; taxonomy; ambiguities; otolith morphometry; phylogenetic
Subjects:	Marine Fisheries > Fish landing > New record Fish and Fisheries > Fish Genetics Demersal Fishes > Seerfishes Pelagic Fisheries Fish and Fisheries > Fish Taxonomy
Divisions:	CMFRI-Kochi > Marine Capture > Finfish Fisheries Division Subject Area > CMFRI > CMFRI-Kochi > Marine Capture > Finfish Fisheries Division CMFRI-Kochi > Marine Capture > Finfish Fisheries Division Subject Area > CMFRI-Kochi > Marine Capture > Finfish Fisheries Division
Depositing User:	Arun Surendran
Date Deposited:	17 Nov 2023 07:06
Last Modified:	29 Nov 2023 08:53
URI:	http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/id/eprint/17716

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