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Turkish Journal of Zoology

Abstract

Groupers (Epinephelidae) are a taxon of great commercial interest due to their large body size and high market value, and are also an important ecological species for biodiversity conservation in coral reef ecosystems. Despite their importance, phenotypic convergence among species generally leads to incorrect taxonomic identification, an issue enhanced by molecular studies revealing the presence of a high cryptic diversity and complicating conventional systematic frameworks. Herein, grouper species diversity in the ecologically heterogeneous Persian Gulf and Oman Sea was investigated to resolve taxonomic ambiguities and assess patterns of cryptic diversity. Mitochondrial COI gene sequencing was used in conjunction with integrative approaches to species delimitation (automatic barcode gap discovery, assemble species by automatic partitioning, multirate Poisson tree processes, Bayesian Poisson tree processes) and haplotype network analyses. The phylogenetic reconstruction retrieved eight well-supported clades and subclades, supporting the nonmonophyly of the genera Cephalopholis and Epinephelus in agreement with previous studies and pointing to the need for taxonomic revision. Conservative species delimitation indicated two putative undescribed species within Epinephelus areolatus and E. latifasciatus, each corresponding to distinct genetic lineages corroborated by haplotype networks and substantial genetic distances. These results show that 1) the marine fish diversity of the region is significantly underestimated by current taxonomic classifications, 2) the endemic marine fish fauna may have unique evolutionary origins and has likely been shaped by ecological and physical dispersal barriers deserving of further investigation, and 3) a reassessment of the conservation status of E. areolatus and E. latifasciatus is long overdue.

Author ORCID Identifier

EHSAN DAMADI: 0000-0001-8202-5559

FAEZEH YAZDANI MOGHADDAM: 0000-0001-8310-4451

MASOUMEH GHOLIPOUR CHESHM GILAK: 0009-0007-1973-1355

MEHDI GHANBARIFARDI: 0000-0002-1825-2551

DOI

10.55730/1300-0179.3361

Keywords

Cryptic diversity, Epinephelus, molecular systematics, mitochondrial DNA, northwestern Indian Ocean, species boundaries

First Page

358

Last Page

369

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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