New species and novel biological insights discovered via Barcode assisted taxonomy of Argentinean marine fishes

DÍAZ DE ASTARLOA, J. M.

Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

Conferencia; Second International Barcode of Life Conference; 2007

New Species and Novel Biological Insights Discovered via Barcode Assisted Taxonomy of Argentinean Marine Fishes. Juan M. Díaz de Astarloa Stimulated by an invitation to join the inaugural FISH-BOL workshop in 2005 [at the University of Guelph], a barcode sample protocol was subsequently adopted, resulting in the collection of over 350 voucher specimens that were accompanied by tissue samples, photographs and geospatial coordinates. From these, a total of  327 unambiguous bidirectional barcode sequence records were generated for a total of 87 species of marine fishes from Argentinean waters. The material has been collected from several research cruises along the Argentinean continental shelf, considering the Magellan Zoogeographic Province, characterized by the incursion of cold and cold-temperate waters from the south with high productivity, and the Argentine Zoogeographic Province which is characterized by warm and warm-temperate waters. It is more diverse in terms of number of families and species compared to the other Province. All the surveys have been conducted by the INIDEP, the National Fisheries Institute in Argentina , which its main purpose is the formulation and execution of research programmes on basic and applied investigation related to fisheries resources and their sustainable exploitation. The results demonstrate that DNA barcodes are effective in discriminating all species surveyed. The molecular assisted recognition of cryptic diversity (highlighted by the existence of deep genetic divergences within taxa), fueled subsequent efforts in integrative alpha taxonomy. Result included the description of a new species of Longnose skate (Dipturus argentinensis) and the recognition of the Brazilian cusk eel (Genypterus brasiliensis) as a valid species, which Neilsen, Cohen, Markle and Robins regarded as an unpatterned form of the the pink-cusk eel (Genypterus blacodes) in their FAO catalog of Ophiidiform species. Additionally, the pattern of diversification implied by the molecular data among eight Bathyraja species implies the presence of a phylogenetic constraint acting on the physiological plasticity of these species with respect to their differing habitat preferences