Barcoding Antarctic fishes: species discrimination and contribution to elucidate ontogenetic changes in Nototheniidae

MABRAGAÑA, EZEQUIEL; DELPIANI, SERGIO MATIAS; ROSSO, JUAN JOSE; GONZÁLEZ CASTRO, MARIANO; DELI ANTONI, MARIANA Y.; HANNER, ROBERT; DÍAZ DE ASTARLOA, JUAN MARTÍN

DNA Barcoding in Marine Perspectives

Springer International Publishing

Año: 2016; p. 213 - 242

Fish species richness in theSouthern Ocean accounts for approximately 2% of the world?s ocean species, withmore than 370 species registered and several awaiting for formal description.Here we explore on the use of DNA barcoding to discriminate fishes fromAntarctic Peninsula. A total of 275 specimens, belonging to 36 differentputative species were barcoded. Nearly allspecies exhibit unique barcodes or clusters of closely related haplotypes, andonly two species of Pogonophryne lackedgenetic resolution using Barcode Index Numbers (BINs). Interspecific divergencewas relatively high except in some species within Artedidraconidae, Liparidae,and Zoarcidae. Exploring public data on BOLD wefound that three BINs included more than one valid species. Thus, 88.6% of thewest Antarctic species barcoded could be identified at species level withaccuracy using BINs. However the use of nucleotic diagnostic character allowedus to discriminate the remaining species. Finally, we highlighted ontogeneticmorphological traits observed in some Notothenidae, which may lead tomisidentification of juveniles. DNA Barcoding was a cornerstone element forobtaining a reliable identification of these specimens. These results are crucialfor management and conservation purposes since an accurate species-level resolutionof juveniles is necessary to determine nursery areas and to clarify speciesdistributions.