Premium
A bridge too far: dispersal barriers and cryptic speciation in an Arabian Peninsula grouper ( Cephalopholis hemistiktos )
Author(s) -
Priest Mark A.,
DiBattista Joseph D.,
McIlwain Jennifer L.,
Taylor Brett M.,
Hussey Nigel E.,
Berumen Michael L.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of biogeography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1365-2699
pISSN - 0305-0270
DOI - 10.1111/jbi.12681
Subject(s) - biological dispersal , biology , range (aeronautics) , genetic structure , ecology , phylogeography , population , fishery , zoology , genetic variation , phylogenetics , biochemistry , materials science , demography , sociology , composite material , gene
Aim We use genetic and age‐based analyses to assess the evidence for a biogeographical barrier to larval dispersal in the yellowfin hind, Cephalopholis hemistiktos, a commercially important species found across the Arabian Peninsula. Location Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Gulf. Methods Mitochondrial DNA cytochrome‐ c oxidase subunit‐I and nuclear DNA ( S7 ) sequences were obtained for C. hemistiktos sampled throughout its distributional range. Phylogeographical and population‐level analyses were used to assess patterns of genetic structure and to identify barriers to dispersal. Concurrently, age‐based demographic analyses using otoliths determined differences in growth and longevity between regions. Results Our analyses revealed significant genetic structure congruent with growth parameter differences observed across sampling sites, suggesting cryptic speciation between populations in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden versus the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Gulf. Coalescence analyses indicated these two regions have been isolated for > 800,000 years. Main conclusions Our results indicate historical disruption to gene flow and a contemporary dispersal barrier in the Arabian Sea, which C. hemistiktos larvae are unable to effectively traverse. This provides yet another example of a (cryptic) species with high dispersive potential whose range is delimited by a lack of suitable habitat between locations or an inability to successfully recruit at the range edge.