Abstract
To clarify the intra- and interspecific relationships of four Gymnogobius species, G. urotaenia, G. isaza, Gymnogobius sp. 1 (sumiukigori), and Gymnogobius sp. 2 (shimaukigori), partial mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences of 639 bp were obtained for a total of 31 specimens from Japan and Korea, plus 2 outgroup specimens. Twenty-nine haplotypes were identified in the ingroup, with a total of 122 variable sites (19.1%). The individuals regarded as the same species morphologically were monophyletic genetically. Sequence differences between amphidromous individuals of three species distributed in both Japan and Korea were relatively small (0.16–1.25%). The largest intraspecific sequence difference was observed between individuals of G. urotaenia from Lake Biwa and those from other localities (1.25–2.19%). Interspecific sequence differences ranged from 4.07% to 13.46%; neighbor-joining, maximum-parsimony, and maximum-likelihood methods indicated that Gymnogobius sp. 2 diverged first, followed by G. isaza, with Gymnogobius sp. 1 and G. urotaenia being monophyletic. The estimated divergence time of each species, based on estimated divergence rates for mitochondrial protein-coding genes already reported (0.8–2.8%/my), suggested that speciation occurred mainly in the Pliocene (possibly Miocene), with G. isaza (a Lake Biwa endemic) diverging significantly earlier (probably Lake Kouga stage) than estimated in previous studies. In contrast, according to the previous hypothesis, the substitution rates were highly overestimated to about 12–20%/my.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received: November 19, 2001 / Revised: May 20, 2002 / Accepted: June 18, 2002
Acknowledgments Special thanks are due to Katsutoshi Watanabe and Yuji Yamazaki for valuable advice and providing fish samples. We also thank Kouji Nakayama, Toshiyuki Ohkawa, Motoomi Yamaguchi, and members of the Laboratory of Marine Biology, Fukui Prefectural University, and members of the Laboratory of Molecular Marine Biology, Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, and the Laboratory of Marine Stock Enhancement, University of Kyoto, for their help and advice during the present study.
Correspondence to:Shigeo Harada
About this article
Cite this article
Harada, S., Jeon, SR., Kinoshita, I. et al. Phylogenetic relationships of four species of floating gobies (Gymnogobius) as inferred from partial mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences. Ichthyol Res 49, 324–332 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s102280200048
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s102280200048