Zolkaply Siti Zulaiha, Do Thinh Dinh, Asaduzzaman Md, Seah Ying Giat, Hurwood David, Mather Peter, Rahman Md Moshiur, Wong Li Lian
Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu 21030, Malaysia.
Faculty of Fisheries and Food Science, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu 21030, Malaysia.
Biology (Basel). 2021 Oct 28;10(11):1109. doi: 10.3390/biology10111109.
Rabbitfish (Siganidae) are coral reef fish that are distributed across diverse habitats that include estuaries, mangroves, reefs, and even seaweed mats. Given their ecological diversity and natural widespread distributions across the Indo-Pacific region, we were interested to investigate the evolutionary history of this group and patterns of divergence that have contributed to their present-day distributions. In the present study, samples were collected from the South China Sea to study taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships, and divergence times. We investigated the taxonomic relationships among modern rabbitfish species, reconstructed their molecular phylogeny, and estimated divergence times among selected lineages based on a fragment of the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and sequences of the nuclear rhodopsin retrogene (RHO). Our results indicate that modern rabbitfish likely originated in the Indo-West Pacific during the late Eocene [37.4 million years ago (mya)], following which they diverged into three major clades during the Pliocene/Pleistocene. Subsequent diversification and origins of the majority of siganids may likely be associated with episodes of paleo-oceanographic events, including greenhouse and glaciation events (Eocene-Miocene) as well as major plate tectonic events (Pliocene-Pleistocene). Some modern siganid species may naturally hybridize with congeneric species where their geographical ranges overlap. A comprehensive taxonomic analysis revealed that the phylogeny of Siganidae (cladogenesis of Clades I, II, and III) is characterized by divergence in several external morphological characters and morphometric parameters. Our study demonstrates that morphological characteristics, geographical heterogeneity, and environmental change have contributed to siganids' historical diversification.
篮子鱼（篮子鱼科）是珊瑚礁鱼类，分布于包括河口、红树林、珊瑚礁甚至海藻床在内的各种栖息地。鉴于它们的生态多样性以及在印度-太平洋地区自然广泛分布，我们有兴趣研究该类群的进化历史以及导致其现今分布格局的分歧模式。在本研究中，从南海采集样本以研究分类学和系统发育关系以及分歧时间。我们研究了现代篮子鱼物种之间的分类关系，重建了它们的分子系统发育，并基于线粒体细胞色素氧化酶I（COI）片段和核视紫红质反转录基因（RHO）序列估计了选定谱系之间的分歧时间。我们的结果表明，现代篮子鱼可能在始新世晚期（3740万年前）起源于印度-西太平洋地区，随后在上新世/更新世期间分化为三个主要分支。大多数篮子鱼随后的多样化和起源可能与古海洋学事件有关，包括温室和冰川事件（始新世-中新世）以及主要的板块构造事件（上新世-更新世）。一些现代篮子鱼物种在其地理范围重叠的地方可能会与同属物种自然杂交。全面的分类学分析表明，篮子鱼科（分支I、II和III的分支形成）的系统发育特征是在几个外部形态特征和形态测量参数上存在分歧。我们的研究表明，形态特征、地理异质性和环境变化促成了篮子鱼的历史多样化。
