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DNA barcoding grey mullets

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Abstract

Despite the ecological and commercial importance of grey mullets (fish family Mugilidae), their taxonomy and systematics are still much debated. Reasons for this are the low level of morphometric variability and the relatively poor phylogenetic information borne by the morpho-anatomical characters used thus far in diagnosing species. Here, we evaluate the potential of DNA barcoding to accurately delineate species and assign unknown specimens to taxa in the family Mugilidae. Our reference sample consists of 257 individuals from 91 lineages characterized by their nucleotide sequences at the COI, cytochrome b, and 16S rRNA loci. These lineages correspond to 55 species according to the current taxonomy, and 36 presumed cryptic species. All known and presumed cryptic species within the ‘Mugil cephalus’ (n = 15) and ‘M. curema’ (n = 6) species complexes, as well as within genera Chelon (n = 10), Crenimugil (n = 6), Osteomugil (n = 6), and Planiliza (n = 18) were successfully recovered as distinct lineages by COI gene sequences (598 bp), demonstrating the utility of this marker to delineate species in the family Mugilidae. Inconsistencies in the labeling of sequences deposited in GenBank were ascribed to species misidentification. A proportion of these misidentifications occurred in the course of dedicated barcoding surveys, further emphasizing the need for an accurate and exhaustive reference barcoding database for Mugilidae.

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Acknowledgements

A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the Fish Barcode of Life World Conference in Yeosu (South Korea) in June 2012, whose organizing committee JDD is grateful to. Pre-twentieth century books and articles were consulted online from the Biodiversity Heritage Library website (http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/).

Authors’ contribution

PB, JDD, NH and KNS designed the project. PB and JDD participated in the collection, identification and curation of samples. JDD and KNS supervised the laboratory work. PB and JDD analyzed and interpreted the data, and wrote the manuscript. NH edited a pre-final version. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Zoology, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), MARBEC, University of Science, VNUHCM, 227 Nguyen Van Cu Str., Dist. 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    J.-D. Durand

  2. IRD UMR 5554 ISEM, Jl. Raya Bogor Jakarta km 46, Cibinong, 16911, Indonesia

    N. Hubert

  3. Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, 20224, Taiwan

    K.-N. Shen

  4. IRD UMR 250 “Ecologie marine tropicale des oceans Pacifique et Indien”, Nouméa, New Caledonia

    P. Borsa

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  1. J.-D. Durand
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  4. P. Borsa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J.-D. Durand.

Additional information

The sequences are available from Genbank (see supplementary Table S1 for accession numbers). Supplementary materials are available from the Hal-IRD open-access online repository (http://www.hal.ird.fr/hal@ird.fr).

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Durand, JD., Hubert, N., Shen, KN. et al. DNA barcoding grey mullets. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 27, 233–243 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-016-9457-7

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