“…Additionally, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers can be used in biodiversity research for monitoring and for studying the molecular phylogeny [15,16,17]. In particular, mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) and 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) genes are widely used in sh taxonomy and phylogenetics since these genes are extremely conserved and as they help identify and differentiate closely related species [9,13,18,19,20,21,22,23]. Therefore, genetic molecular marker-based species identi cation can be applied to accurately identify closely related sh species, in cases where traditional morphological classi cation methods lead to ambiguities.…”