DNA reconciles morphology and colouration in the drunk blenny genus Scartichthys (Teleostei: Blenniidae) and provides insights into their evolutionary history

The blenniids of the genus Scartichthys are one of the most common fishes of Central and South American Pacific coastal reefs. This being said, Scartichthys spp. remain difficult to identify in the field, and identification is particularly challenging across the c. 6000 km where three of the four cu...

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Published in:Journal of fish biology 2022-02, Vol.100 (2), p.507-518
Main Authors: Delrieu‐Trottin, Erwan, Hartmann‐Salvo, Hans, Saenz‐Agudelo, Pablo, Landaeta, Mauricio F., Pérez‐Matus, Alejandro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
biogeography
Chileintegrative taxonomy
Color
Colour
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Divergence
DNA
Ecosystem
Environmental factors
Fishes - genetics
Juveniles
kelp forests
Marine fishes
molecular phylogeny
Morphology
Ontogeny
Perciformes - genetics
Phylogeny
Reproductive behavior
Reproductive behaviour
Scartichthys
Species
species delimitation
Sympatry
Taxonomy
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Summary:The blenniids of the genus Scartichthys are one of the most common fishes of Central and South American Pacific coastal reefs. This being said, Scartichthys spp. remain difficult to identify in the field, and identification is particularly challenging across the c. 6000 km where three of the four currently accepted species are known to occur in sympatry. A reason for this is that the main taxonomic characters from traditional taxonomy are indeed elusive. In addition, at the same time, species can display multiple colour patterns in the field, depending on their ontogenetic stage, habitat association and reproductive behaviour. Overall, molecular characterization is warranted to help address these issues. In this study, the authors have used a novel approach to revise the genus by combining colouration, morphological and molecular data of representative specimens of the four currently valid species and seven described colour patterns. From this, the authors show that only three of the four species should be considered as valid; Scartichthys gigas (Steindachner, 1876), Scartichthys variolatus (Valenciennes, 1836) and Scartichthys viridis (Valenciennes, 1836), whereas Scartichthys crapulatus (Williams, 1990) should be synonymized with S. viridis. In the same way, the analyses in this study show that one of the colour patterns attributed so far only to S. gigas is characteristic of the juvenile stages of S. viridis. The time‐calibrated phylogeny of this study shows that this genus is relatively young and that the estimated time of divergence between S. gigas and S. viridis is c. 1.71 Ma. In comparison, the Desventuradas and Juan Fernandez Islands endemic S. variolatus diverged c. 1.95 Ma. The results of this study help to clarify the taxonomy of Scartichthys.
ISSN:0022-1112
1095-8649
DOI:10.1111/jfb.14960