Identification of the larval and juvenile stages of the Cubera Snapper, Lutjanus cyanopterus, using DNA barcoding

By B. Victor, Robert H. Hanner, Mahmood Shivji, John R. Hyde, C. Caldow. Zootaxa, 2009

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The larvae and newly-settled juveniles of the Cubera Snapper, Lutjanus cyanopterus, are identified by DNA barcoding. Four larvae and three small juveniles of L. cyanopterus were detected among a large collection of pelagic larvae and a smaller collection of settled juveniles from the Caribbean coast of Panama. The mtDNA COI barcode sequences from the larvae and juveniles were virtually identical to sequences from adults sampled from the spawning aggregation in St. Thomas, USVI. Barcode sequences for the eleven regional species of Lutjanus species (sensu lato) were obtained and they exhibited deep interspecific divergences that allowed for efficient discrimination among the western Atlantic snapper species. The nearest neighbor species, the Mutton Snapper L. analis, was more than 11% divergent from L. cyanopterus. Cubera Snapper larvae are characterized by prominent melanophores along the outer spinous-dorsal-fin membranes and along the outer third of the longer pelvic-fin membranes. They are morphologically distinct from the late-stage larvae of the other regional snappers by their relatively wider caudal peduncle and their relative dorsal-spine lengths. Juveniles retain the black outer portion of the dorsal and pelvic-fin membranes and have a smaller body-depth than other regional snapper juveniles. The size at settlement is about 18 mm SL, relatively large for lutjanids. Daily otolith increments from L. cyanopterus larvae and juveniles indicate a pelagic larval duration of about 29 days with backcalculated spawning and settlement dates around the new moon. Although smaller adult Cubera Snappers can appear very similar to the Gray Snapper, L. griseus, the larvae and juveniles are quite different. In this case, the early life history stages reflect the deep genetic divergence between the two species while the adult forms converge in appearance.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/463a3ba0458f14bc3b9847ae43186f0de8c6ae47

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Citations in the corpus

DNA barcoding is a useful tool for the identification of marine fishes from Japan (2011, background): “The application of DNA barcoding to identify species at all life-history stages is beneficial and helpful for better understanding the ecological mechanisms (Katoh, 2001; Pegg et al., 2006; Rocha-Olivares and Chávez-González, 2008; Victor et al., 2009).”
Using DNA barcodes to connect adults and early life stages of marine fishes from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico: potential in fisheries management (2010, background): “For example, Baldwin et al. (2009) described the early stages of six species in two genera (Phaeoptyx and Astrapogon) and Victor (2007, 2008) and Victor et al. (2009) described larvae and adults of two new species of Coryphopterus and Lutjanus cyanopterus from the Caribbean.”
Diet richness of invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish revealed by DNA barcoding (2013, background): “…used to identify dietary items of species that are challenging to study owing to their rarity (e.g. deepwater sharks; Dunn et al. 2010), small body size (e.g. larval fish; Victor et al. 2009, Riemann et al. 2010), or species-rich generalist diets (e.g. coral reef fish; Leray et al. 2012).”