Taxonomic status of Chinese bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis) and its phylogenetic relationship with other species in the family Sciaenidae.

Sciaenidae is one of the largest fish families, but the phylogeny and taxonomy of these fishes are still being disputed. Furthermore, the taxonomic status of the Chinese bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis), which is an endemic species to China, had never been studied through molecular method. In this study, phylogenetic relationships among sciaenid species were reconstructed using DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene and the 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene through Bayesian inference (BI) analyses. The phylogenetic trees indicated that the Chinese bahaba closely related to Collichthys and Pseudosciaena. Previous studies (Meng et al. 2004. Prog Nat Sci 14(5):514-521, [in Chinese]) showed that the subfamily Pseudosciaeninae represented the latest evolutionary sort, which was more suitable with the current environment. Based on our 16S rRNA, the Chinese bahaba showed close relationship with Pseudosciaena, thus the divergence of the Chinese bahaba maybe also very late within the family Sciaenidae. It was probably that the oceanographic or ecological discontinuities of these species vary considerably causing particularly strong breaks. Furthermore, combined with previous studies, we suggested that there was only one genus, Otolithes, within the subfamily Otolithinae. Nevertheless, the taxonomic status of the Chinese bahaba and the phylogeny of the whole family were not completely solved. Additional samples of more species are required to develop a clearer picture of the evolutionary history of Sciaenidae.