Phylogenetic analysis of Peri-Mediterranean blennies of the genus Salaria: Molecular insights on the colonization of freshwaters

Abstract

a b s t r a c tIn this paper, the phylogenetic relationships of the marine blenny Salaria pavo and the freshwater S. fluviatilis and S. economidisi were analyzed using four molecular markers: the mitochondrial 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and the control region and the nuclear first intron of the S7 ribosomal protein. The monophyly of Salaria is supported, as well as that of S. pavo and that of all the freshwater members of Salaria. Thus, the present results support a single origin for all freshwater Mediterranean blenniids. Our results reject the placement of the species of Salaria in the genus Lipophrys as proposed in previous studies. Using a molecular clock calibrated with trans-Isthmian geminate blenniid species, the split between the ancestor of the freshwater lineage and the ancestor of S. pavo is tentatively placed in the Middle Miocene (well before the Messinian). The marine S. pavo displays a very low level of intraspecific sequence divergence consistent with a Pleistocene bottleneck. S. fluviatilis is a paraphyletic entity with S. economidisi nested within it. A Moroccan population of S. fluviatilis is more divergent than S. economidisi, both in nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Fish from Israel together with some Turkish samples represent the second oldest split. It is argued that these populations may represent cryptic species. Thus, further studies on the taxonomy of these freshwater blennies are urgently needed.

Are local extinctions and recolonizations continuing at the colder limits of marine fish distributions? Halobatrachus didactylus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801), a possible candidate

“…In spite of this, the pair of primers used in this study typically amplifies a portion of the CR of other species (e.g. Symphodus melops, Robalo et al 2012; Salaria pavo, Almada et al 2009) and succeeded in a considerable proportion of our samples. Because of this and as a note of caution, we refer to this fragment as a putative control region fragment.…”

The Lusitania Province as a center of diversification: The phylogeny of the genus Microlipophrys (Pisces: Blenniidae)

“…Therefore, the validity of the genus Microlipophrys ) is supported by molecular data, both mitochondrial and nuclear, when considering all species of this genus and the most closely related species. Assuming a molecular clock for the concatenated mitochondrial sequences of 0.008 subst./MY for the mitochondrial regions and 0.0148 subst./MY for S7 (Almada et al, 2009), suggests the divergence between Lipophrys-Coryphoblennius and Microlipophrys occurred ca. 2-11 MYA.…”

Freshwater Fish Assemblages in Cyprus with Emphasis on the Effects of Dams

“…The relative frequency of occurrence of fish species (presence in number of sites) in relation to the water body type ant species (i.e., potentially salmonids during the glacial periods) only species that could be transported by man or other animals may have reached the island. The ancestor of the freshwater blenny (Salaria fluviatilis) for example, is said to have been a euryhaline species, allowing incursions into fresh water and subsequent dispersal via the sea (Almada et al 2009). However the freshwater blenny on Cyprus is not reported in any recent survey (Bath 2003) and is not known by the island's ichthyologists.…”