mtDNA sequences of Sphyraena viridensis (Perciformes: Sphyraenidae) from Italy: insights into historical events and the phylogeny of the genus

The yellowmouth barracuda, Sphyraena viridensis, is a Mediterranean native species whose exact distribution is uncertain due to a long-term taxonomic confusion with Sphyraena sphyraena. Records of this species in the Mediterranean Sea have recently increased, and a northwards expansion of its distribution has been suggested. Three mtDNA regions, namely cytochrome oxidase I, cytochrome b and the control region, were analysed in S. viridensis samples from Italian coastal regions to provide molecular markers useful in species identification, in phylogenetic analysis and in detecting the distribution of genetic variability of the yellowmouth barracuda in this area. The data clearly distinguish S. viridensis from S. sphyraena and the other four (one native and three Lessepsian) Mediterranean Sphyraena species and identify two clearly distinct lineages that diverged during the Pleistocene but are currently panmictic in the investigated area. Both lineages retain signatures of historical population expansion. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 113, 635–641.