Comprehensive phylogeny of the family Sparidae (Perciformes: Teleostei) inferred from mitochondrial gene analyses

Abstract

Sparid fishes consist of approximately 115 species in 33 genera that are broadly distributed in tropical and temperate coastal waters. Although several phylogenetic analyses were conducted based on specific molecular markers, their classification remains unresolved. Here, we present the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the family Sparidae to date, based on cytochrome b (cyt-b) genes. We determined 18 sequences of sparids and conducted phylogenetic analyses among 72 individuals representing 66 sparids with 23 outgroup species. Phylogenetic trees were constructed according to partitioned Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian methods. The phylogenetic analyses were conducted on two different data sets (including all positions; RY-coding). The phylogenetic trees showed monophyly of the family Sparidae with a different taxon, centracanthid Spicara. The subfamilies in the Sparidae in all trees are non-monophyletic and do not agree with current classification of the subfamilies. The genera Acanthopagrus, Cheimerius, Dentex, Diplodus, Pagellus, Pagrus, and Spicara are also non-monophyletic and their classifications should be revised based on the phylogenetic relationships and reinvestigation of morphological characters. The sparids are divided into three major clades, A, B and C, respectively in the ML tree based on all codon positions, whereas clade C was paraphyletic in the other trees. The species in clade C are known to be present in the eastern Pacific to western Atlantic, whereas those in clades A and B are distributed in various oceanic regions. Some sub-clades in clades A and B consist of species that are distributed in defined local regions. We further investigated evolutionary patterns of 87 morphological characters by ancestral character-state reconstruction according to the parsimony criteria. The results suggested high evolutionary plasticity of the characters in sparids, indicating that it causes species-diversity and taxonomic confusion at various taxonomic levels, and that such convergent evolution may occur more frequently also in other coastal fishes.

The sparid fishes of Pakistan, with new distribution records

“…El-Agamy, 1989;Radebe et al, 2002;Kailola et al, 1993;Willis et al, 2003;Hughes et al, 2008;Al Mamry et al, 2009;Kraljević et al, 1996). The taxonomy and phylogeny of the family Sparidae has have been revised several times (de la Herran et al, 2001;Chiba et al, 2009;Hanel & Sturmbauer, 2000), but remains controversial. Morphological characters such as body shape, arrangement of fins, color and identification marks (blotches, bars, etc.…”

“…In all, dentition has been a key character to differentiate between different genera and species (Chiba et al, 2009;Orrell et al, 2002;Day, 2002). Molecular techniques have been proved useful in resolving most of the issues of the classification of the species of family sparidae (Chiba et al, 2009). First two dorsal spines short, 3rd and 7 th elongated, filamentous (especially in juveniles and subadults) .…”

Use of morphological differences for the identification of two picarel species Spicara flexuosa and Spicara maena (Pisces: Centracanthidae)

“…The above conflict is maintained till today; although karyological studies (Vasiliev, 1980) as well as genetic studies (Chiba et al, 2009;Imsiridou et al, 2011;Turan, 2011) undoubtedly prove that S. maena and S. flexuosa are two different species. Assuming that S. maena and S. flexuosa are two different species, identification is possible using meristic and morphometric characteristics (Tortonese, 1986;Fischer et al, 1987;Rizkalla, 1996).…”

Parasite communities in two sparid fishes from the western Mediterranean: a comparative analysis based on samples from three localities off the Algerian coast

“…Until recently, Spicara maena (L.) has been classifi ed within the family Centracanthidae (see Tortinese, 1986) and even used as the outgroup in molecular phylogenetic analyses of the Sparidae (see Hanel & Sturmbauer, 2000). However, subsequent studies supported a monophyletic Sparidae with the inclusion of the centracanthid genus Spicara Rafi nesque (see Orrell et al, 2002;Orrell & Carpenter, 2004;Chiba et al, 2009). These authors also suggested that the feeding types traditionally used for defi nition of subfamilies within the Sparidae, were independently derived multiple times; multiple transitions from a durophagous to a non-durophagous diet were also suggested by Santini et al (2014).…”