Abstract
v This paper describes Elops smithi, n. sp., and designates a lectotype for E. saurus. These two species can be separated from the five other species of Elops by a combination of vertebrae and gillraker counts. Morphologically, they can be distinguished from each other only by myomere (larvae) or vertebrae (adults) counts. Elops smithi has 73–80 centra (total number of vertebrae), usually with 75–78 centra; E. saurus has 79–87 centra, usually with 81–85 centra. No other morphological character is known to separate E. smithi and E. saurus, but the sequence divergence in mtDNA cytochrome b (d = 0.023–0.029) between E. smithi and E. saurus is similar to or greater than that measured between recognized species of Elops in different ocean basins. Both species occur in the western Atlantic Ocean, principally allopatrically but with areas of sympatry, probably via larval dispersal of E. smithi by oceanographic currents.
References
Alvarado Bremer, J.R., Viñas, J., Mejuto, J., Ely, B. & Pla, C. (2005) Comparative phylogeography of bluefin tuna and swordfish: the combined effects of vicariance, secondary contact, introgression, and population expansion on the regional phylogenies of two highly migratory pelagic fishes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 36, 169–187.
Amos, B. & Hoelzel, A.R. (1991) Long-term preservation of whale skin for DNA analysis. Report of the International Whaling Commission 13, 99–103.
Bertin, L. (1944) La distribution mésogéenne des Elops. Compte Rendu Sommaire des Seances. Societe de
Biogeographie, Paris, 21, 17–23.
Bowen, B.W., Karl, S.A. & Pfeiler, E. (2007) Resolving evolutionary lineages and taxonomy of bonefishes (Albula spp.). In: Ault, J.S. (Eds.), Biology and Management of the World Tarpon and Bonefish Fisheries. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL USA, pp. 147–154.
Bowen, B.W., Muss, A., Rocha, L.A. & Grant, W.S. (2006) Shallow mtDNA coalescence in Atlantic pygmy angelfishes (genus Centropyge) indicates a recent invasion from the Indian Ocean. Journal of Heredity, 97, 1–12.
Browne, P. (1756) The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica. Selbstverl., London. Available from http://
www.botanicus.org/title/b12073179 (accessed 30 April 2009)
Campton, D.E., Bass, A.L., Chapman, F.A. & Bowen, B.W. (2000) Genetic distinction of pallid, shovelnose, and Alabama sturgeon: emerging species and the US endangered species act. Conservation Genetics, 1, 17–32.
Carles, C.A. (1967) Datos sobre la biología del banano Elops saurus Linnaeus (Teleostomi: Elopidae). Instituto Nacional De La Pesca Cuba, Contribución No. 27, 1–53.
Eldred, B. & Lyons, W.G. (1966) Larval ladyfish, Elops saurus Linnaeus 1766, (Elopidae) in Florida and adjacent waters. Florida Department of Natural Resources, Marine Research Laboratory, Leaflet Series, IV, Part 1, No. 2,
unpaginated.
Eschmeyer, W.N. & Fong, J.D. (2008) Species by Family/subfamily in the Catalog of Fishes. Available from http://research.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp (accessed 30 April 2009)
Fowler, H.W. (1931) Fishes obtained by the Barber Asphalt Company in Trinidad and Venezuela in 1930. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 83, 391–410.
Gehringer, J.W. (1959) Early development and metamorphosis of the ten-pounder Elops saurus Linnaeus. Fishery Bulletin, U. S., 59, 618–647.
Hidaka, K., Iwatsuki, Y. & Randall, J.E. (2008) A review of the Indo-Pacific bonefishes of the Albula argentea complex, with a description of a new species. Ichthyological Research, 55, 53–64.
Hildebrand, S.F. (1943) Notes on the affinity, anatomy, and development of Elops saurus Linnaeus. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 33, 90–94.
Hildebrand, S.F. (1963) Family Elopidae. Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research Number I. Fishes of the Western North Atlantic. Part Three. Sears Foundation for Marine Research, Yale Univ., New Haven, pp. 111–131.
Hubbs, C.L. & Lagler, K.F. (1947) Fishes of the Great Lakes Region. Cranbrook Institute of Science, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 186 pp.
Jordan, D.S. (1891) Relations of temperature to vertebrae among fishes. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 14, 107–120.
Kimura, M. (1980) A simple method for estimating evolutionary rate of base substitutions through comparative studies of nucleotide sequences. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 16, 111–120.
Kimura, M. (1983) The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Lecomte, F.L., Grant, W.S., Dodson, J.J., Rodriguez-Sanchez, R. & Bowen, B.W. (2004) Living with uncertainty: genetic imprints of climate shifts in East Pacific anchovy (Engraulis mordax) and sardine (Sardinops sagax). Molecular Ecology, 13, 2169–2182.
Linnaeus, C. (1766) Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum
characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I, [Regnum animale]. [Pars I]. Holmiae: Impensis Direct.
Laurentii Salvii. Available from http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k99004c.r=Systema+naturae.langEN (accessed 30 April 2009)
Linton, E. (1907) Notes on parasites of Bermuda fishes. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 33, 85–126.
McBride, R.S. & Horodysky, A.Z. (2004) Mechanisms maintaining sympatric distributions of two ladyfish (Elopidae: Elops) morphs in the Gulf of Mexico and western North Atlantic Ocean. Limnology and Oceanography, 49, 1173–1181.
McBride, R.S., MacDonald, T.C., Matheson, R.E., Rydene, D.A. & Hood, P.B. (2001) Nursery habitats for ladyfish, Elops saurus, along salinity gradients in two Florida estuaries. Fishery Bulletin, U. S., 99, 443–458.
McDowall, R.M. (2008) Jordan's and other ecogeographical rules, and the vertebral number in fishes. Journal of
Biogeography, 35, 501–508.
Miller, G.L. & Jorgenson, S.C. (1973) Meristic characters of some marine fishes of the Western Atlantic Ocean. Fishery Bulletin, U. S., 71, 301–312.
Nelson, J.S. (2006) Fishes of the World (4th Edition). John Wiley & Sons, New York, 601 pp.
Obermiller, L.E. & Pfeiler, E. (2003) Phylogenetic relationships of elopomorph fishes inferred from mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 26, 202–214.
Regan, C.T. (1909) A revision of the fishes of the genus Elops. Annals and Magazine of Natural History Series 8 3, 37–40.
Rocha, L.A., Craig, M.T. & Bowen, B.W. (2007) Phylogeography and the conservation of coral reef fishes. Coral Reefs, 26, 501–512.
Rocha, L.A., Robertson, D.R., Roman, J. & Bowen, B.W. (2005) Ecological speciation in tropical reef fishes.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, 272, 573–579.
Saiki, R.K., Scharf, S., Faloona, F., Mullis, K.B., Horn, G.T., Ehrlich, H.A. & Arnheim, N. (1985) Enzymatic
amplification of beta-globin genomic sequences and restriction site analysis for diagnosis of sickle-cell anemia.
Science, 230, 1350–1354.
Santos-Martínez, A. & Arboleda, S. (1993) Aspectos biológicos y ecológicos del macabí Elops saurus Linnaeus (Pisces: Elopidae) en la Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta y costa adyacente, Caribe Colombiano. Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas de Punta de Betín, 22, 77–96.
Slatkin, M. (1987) Gene flow and the geographic structure of natural populations. Science, 236, 787–792.
Sloane, H. (1725) Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica with the Natural History of the Herbs and Trees, Four-footed Beasts, Fishes, Birds, Insects, Reptiles & c. of the Last of Those Islands. Vol. II. Benjamin Motte, London. Available from http://www.botanicus.org/title/b12082429 (accessed 30 April 2009)
Smith, D.G. (1989) Order Elopiformes; Families Elopidae, Megalopidae, and Albulidae: Leptocephali. Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research. Number I. Fishes of the Western North Atlantic. Part Nine. Volume Two. Sears Foundation for Marine Research, Yale Univ., New Haven, pp. 961–972.
Smith, D.G. & Crabtree, R. (2002) Order Elopiformes, Elopidae, Tenpounders (ladyfishes). In: Carpenter, K.E. (Ed.), The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Food & Agricultural Organization, Rome, pp. 679–680.
Smith-Vaniz, W.F., Collette, B.B. & Luckhurst, B.E. (1999) Fishes of Bermuda: History, Zoogeography, Annotated checklist, and Identification Keys. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 4. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, 424 pp.
Song, C.B., Near, T.J. & Page, L.M. (1998) Phylogenetic relations among percid fishes as inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 10, 343–-353.
Taberlet, P., Meyer, A. & Bouvet, J. (1992) Unusually large mitochondrial variation in populations of the blue tit, Parus caeruleus. Molecular Ecology, 1, 27–36.
Whitehead, P.J.P. (1962) The species of Elops (Pisces: Elopidae). Annals and Magazine of Natural History Series 13, 5, 321–329.