Molecular and morphological evidence for the identity of the giant mottled eel, Anguilla marmorata in Southeast Asia
- PDF / 2,018,625 Bytes
- 8 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 28 Downloads / 205 Views
Tropical Ecology https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-020-00096-4
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Molecular and morphological evidence for the identity of the giant mottled eel, Anguilla marmorata in Southeast Asia Takaomi Arai1 · Hussein Taha1 · Mohammed Nurajiman Mohd‑Riduan1 · Siti Shazwani Azreena Mokti1 Received: 13 August 2019 / Revised: 11 July 2020 / Accepted: 22 July 2020 © International Society for Tropical Ecology 2020
Abstract Tropical anguillid eels account for two-thirds of all species in the genus Anguilla, however information on the species diversity, biogeography, and life histories is very limited. The anguillid eels found in Southeast Asian waters, i.e. Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were identified using molecular genetic analysis after morphological observation. This is the first record of the occurrence of A. marmorata in Thailand and Vietnam that was confirmed by both morphological and molecular genetic analyses. The molecular phylogenetic tree and the haplotype network of A. marmorata in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam suggested that the eel might be transported from the western North Pacific spawning area. We also propose possible dispersion and migration of A. marmorata into Southeast Asian waters. Keywords Distribution · Molecular · Species identification · Southeast Asia · Tropical anguillid eels
Introduction The catadromous eels of the genus Anguilla Schrank are widely distributed throughout the world. Nineteen species of Anguilla have been reported worldwide, 13 of which occur in tropical regions (Ege 1939; Arai 2016). Of the thirteen species found in tropical areas, seven species or subspecies occur in the western Pacific around Indonesia and Malaysia, i.e. A. celebesensis Kaup 1856, A. interioris Whitely 1938, A. bengalensis bengalensis Gray 1831, A. marmorata Quoy & Gaimard 1824, A. borneensis Popta 1924, A. bicolor bicolor McClelland 1844 and A. bicolor pacifica Schmidt 1928 (Ege 1939; Castle and Williamson 1974; Arai et al. 1999). These eels have a catadromous life history, migrate between inland or coastal growth habitats, and spawn offshore, although anguillid eels do not all enter freshwater environments and that these species display a more opportunistic catadromy (e.g. Arai and Chino 2012, 2018, 2019; Arai et al. 2013, 2019). Comprehensive studies by Ege (1939) have discussed anguillid species diversity, geographic distribution and * Takaomi Arai [email protected] 1
Environmental and Life Sciences Programme, Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam
abundance in the world and have revealed that the highest diversity of anguillids occurs in central Indonesian waters. However, there is relatively little information available on various aspects of eel biology including species composition, distribution, life history and migration in Southeast Asia. The identification of eels at the species level using solely visual observation is known to be difficult because of the similarities and overlapping morphological characteri
Data Loading...
