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Congruence between mitochondrial genes and color morphs in a coral reef fish: population variability in the Indo-Pacific damselfish Chrysiptera rex (Snyder, 1909)

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Abstract

The Pomacentrid fish Chrysiptera rex (Snyder 1909) is a small conspicuous member of Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Despite having planktonic larvae, which would seem to facilitate genetic and morphological homogeneity, it possesses three distinct color variations, which are geographically restricted. To investigate the presence of possible incipient speciation, samples were taken from three geographically distinct areas including the South China Sea, the Philippines and Indonesia. Phylogenetic analysis of these morphotypes resulted in congruence between color and genetic data sets, with separation by color type. Each of the color variants possessed a unique genetic signal at two mitochondrial loci, but the color variants were invariant across a nuclear gene. This study highlights the importance of range wide sampling when characterizing a species and argues that multiple lines of evidence should be used when evaluating the taxonomic and conservation status of coral reef organisms.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Bioinformatics (2008) to JAD with additional support by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation support of the Encyclopedia of Life. This research was carried out in the Field Museum’s Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution operated with support from the Pritzker Foundation. Samples were kindly provided by Vanson Liu and Gento Shimohara. Hiroyuki Tanaka provided the photograph of C. rex from the Ryukyu Islands, with permission from the photographer Takeshi Uchida. We would like to thank A. Cabral, K. Feldheim E. Jones Sbrocco and B. Sazenbacher, for their useful comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biodiversity Synthesis Center, The Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Ave, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA

    J. A. Drew

  2. Department of Aquatic Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, Perth, WA, 6986, Australia

    G. R. Allen

  3. Conservation International, Indonesia Program, Densipar Bali, Indonesia

    M. V. Erdmann

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  1. J. A. Drew
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  2. G. R. Allen
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  3. M. V. Erdmann
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Correspondence to J. A. Drew.

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Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Ruth Gates

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Drew, J.A., Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. Congruence between mitochondrial genes and color morphs in a coral reef fish: population variability in the Indo-Pacific damselfish Chrysiptera rex (Snyder, 1909). Coral Reefs 29, 439–444 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0586-5

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