Preliminary global phylogeography of the endangered dusky grouper, epinephelus marginatus, as revealed by mitochondrial DNA

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe global phylogeography of Epinephelus marginatus using a mitochondrial DNA marker. E. marginatus is an economically important amphi-Atlantic marine fish found throughout the Mediterranean Sea that is facing extinction in the wild. The evaluation of genetic and biogeographic connectivity is a fundamental component of a species ’ conservation status. Genetic analyses revealed five discrete populations of E. marginatus throughout their global geographic range, where the northern Atlantic population represents a distinctly separate phylogenetic species. Estimated divergence time between the most ancestral population found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and the nouveau-Mediterranean Sea is on the order of two million years.