Phylogeny of Gobiidae and identification of gobiid lineages

Abstract

The teleost family Gobiidae includes at least 1120 described species of fishes, distributed worldwide in both tropical and temperate habitats. The majority of gobies inhabit marine environments, in particular Old World coral reefs. However, a radiation of gobiids inhabits the rivers and near-shore habitats of Europe and Asia, and a variety of genera are also found in the seas of the New World. This study builds on previous work in which gobiids were placed among their gobioid relatives by adding additional taxa as well as additional markers, providing a much more comprehensive portrait of gobiid intrarelationships and including all major lineages of gobies. We used DNA sequences from both mitochondrial (ND1, ND2, COI) and nuclear (RAG2, Rhodopsin, RNF213) genes to infer phylogeny among 127 representatives of 100 species of gobies, using two gobionellid species as outgroups. We delineated 13 lineages within Gobiidae, including one clade of shrimp-associated gobies represented by the genera Cryptocentrus, Mahidolia and Stonogobiops and a second separate shrimp-associated goby clade including Amblyeleotris, Ctenogobiops and Vanderhorstia. The Mediterranean, Ponto-Caspian and Eastern Atlantic gobies are resolved in a clade along with two genera known from the Western Indian Ocean. Invasion of the New World is shown to have occurred multiple times among the sampled taxa, in the American seven-spined gobies, the Coryphopterus, Lophogobius and Rhinogobiops radiation (sister to Fusigobius) and separately in the wormfishes Cerdale and Microdesmus, resolved in a clade alongside the Indo-Pacific Gunnellichthys, Ptereleotris and Nemateleotris. The cosmopolitan genera Bathygobius and Priolepis represent further separate radiations, and Lythrypnus shows complex relationships with both Priolepis and Trimma.

Key words:

• Atlantic
• biogeography
• Caribbean
• goby
• Indo-Pacific
• Mediterranean
• Ponto-Caspian
• systematics

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the individuals who have provided gobioid tissue samples, for this and other studies. In particular, we are indebted to Carol Stepien and Matt Neilson for providing the Ponto-Caspian goby samples and to Ed Wiley and Andy Bentley for their efforts in establishing and maintaining the fish tissue collection at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum. Carole Baldwin pointed out that a previously sequenced specimen had been misidentified, allowing correction of GenBank records for Coryphopterus dicrus. Helen Larson provided helpful suggestions regarding the appropriate placements of Austrolethops, Hetereleotris, Mangarinus, Pascua and Tryssogobius. Rick Winterbottom shared his extensive expertise on Trimma and Trimmatom, and Koichi Shibukawa kindly provided a wealth of information on gobies inhabiting the waters of Japan. Mark McGrouther, Amanda Hay and Sandra Raredon provided radiographs of Austrolethops wardi, and Kyle Luckenbill and Mark Sabaj provided radiographs of Vomerogobius flavus. Finally, CT would like to express her ongoing gratitude for the work of R. S. Birdsong (deceased), E. O. Murdy and F. L. Pezold. Their classic 1988 paper provided the first comprehensive assessment of gobioid morphology, and the groups delineated there have guided this and many other studies. This work was supported by grants from the W. M. Keck and R. M. Parsons foundations in support of the programme in Molecular Systematics and Evolution at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Associate Editor: Kevin W. Conway