Morphological and genetic characteristics of pearl-spot damselfish Chromis notata (Teleostei: Pomacentridae) in coastal waters of East Sea (Sea of Japan) and Jejudo

Abstract

The pearl-spot damsel, Chromis notata, is one of the important fishery species in Korea. While C. notata has been commonly harvested in southern Korea, the increasing number of C. notata in higher latitudes has crucial ecological, economic and evolutionary implications under conditions where the climate is rapidly changing. Here we examined the morphological and genetic characteristics of C. notata to assess patterns of geographical variations among the groups from three different sites. The groups were clearly distinguishable in the analysis of morphological characteristics. On the other hand, the groups were genetically indistinguishable. All individuals fell within a single clade in the neighbor-joining tree but appeared scattered in the haplotype network. Several haplotypes are shared among the sampling sites (Jejudo-Ulleungdo; Hap 9, Wangdolcho-Ulleungdo; Hap 28, Hap 33, Hap 34). Although control region markers did not elucidate the spatial patterns in genetic characteristics, Wangdolcho and Ulleungdo groups appear to exhibit a more robust gene flow between the two groups than with Jejudo group. Integrative approaches such as those combining morphological and genetic analyses minimize potential errors caused by limited perspectives of each analysis and can provide useful information for discovering functional DNA regions attributable to morphological characteristics expressions.