Mitochondrial genome of Esox flaviae (Southern pike): announcement and comparison with other Esocidae.

Pikes are fish species belonging to order Esociformes, family Esocidae, genus Esox. Species of the genus Esox are common, large, and economically important for food and fishing activities. Recently, a new species, southern pike E. flaviae, was described for a well-studied area such as Italy, using also two mtDNA markers: cox1 and cytb. A scant number of remnant populations of the species persist in Italy, threatened by habitat loss and degradation and by competition and possible hybridization with E. lucius, massively and recurrently stocked to sustain angling pressure. The availability of new mtDNA markers will possibly contribute to the conservation of the species. Currently, whole mitogenome information for the genus is available only for E. lucius and for E. reichertii. The aim of the present paper is to report novel mitogenomic information for southern pike.