Investigation on the genus Squalus in the Sardinian waters (Central-Western Mediterranean) with implications on its management


Published: Jun 14, 2018
Keywords:
Squalus blainville Squalus megalops Mediterranean Sea taxonomy mtDNA sequencing morphology.
ANDREA BELLODI
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9017-1692
CRISTINA PORCU
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6627-4053
ALESSANDRO CAU
MARTINA FRANCESCA MARONGIU
RICCARDO MELIS
ANTONELLO MULAS
PAOLA PESCI
MARIA CRISTINA FOLLESA
RITA CANNAS
Abstract

In the Mediterranean Sea, in addition to the two historically known species belonging to the Squalus genus, a third species, Squalus megalops, has been reported. Considering the high level of morphologic similarity of this species with the native species S. blainville, this study aims to evaluate the Central-Western Mediterranean spurdog population in order to test the hypothesis of the presence of two distinct species S. blainville and S. megalops. A total of 137 spurdogs, caught in the Sardinian waters, were analyzed morphologically and genetically after their subdivision into two groups depending on the number of the lateral processes in the chondrocranium basal plate. The CAP analysis, employing all body and chondrocranial measurements, revealed no clear segregation among the a priori assigned groups with a high misclassification percentage. Besides, no evident dissimilarities in teeth and dermal denticle morphology between the two groups were observed. All the 18 specimens which were genetically analyzed, by sequencing of the mtDNA marker COI, clustered together resulting to be S. blainville. All the obtained results indicated the presence, in the study area, of only one species, ascribable to S. blainville.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Research Article
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Anderson, M., Willis, T., 2003. Canonical analysis of principal coordinates: a useful method of constrained ordination for ecology. Ecology, 84, 511-525.
Bandelt, H.J., Forster, P., Röhl, A., 1999. Median-joining networks for inferring intraspecific phylogenies. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 16, 37-48.
Bat, L., Erdem, Y., Ustaoğlu, S., Yardım, Ö., Satılmış, H.H., 2005. A Study on the Fishes of the Central Black Sea Coast of Turkey. J. Black Sea/Mediterranean Environment, 11, 281-296.
Bertrand, J. A., Gil de Sola, L., Papaconstantinou, C., Relini, G., Souplet, A., 2000. An international bottom trawl survey in the Mediterranean: the MEDITS programme. p. 76-93. In: Demersal resources in the Mediterranean. Bertrand J.A., Relini, G. (eds), Proceedings of the Symposium, Pisa, 18-21 March 1998. Actes de Colloques, 26. IFREMER, Plouzané. The general specifications of MEDITS surveys.
Bigelow, H.B., Schroeder, W.C., 1957. A study of the sharks of the suborder Squaloidea. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 117, 1-150.
Bonello, J., Bonnici, L., Ferrari, A., Cariani, A., Schembri, P., 2016. Not all that clear cut: Intraspecific morphological variability in Squalus blainville (Risso, 1827) and implications for identification of the species. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 96, 1585-1596.
Cariani, A., Messinetti, S., Ferrari, A., Arculeo, M., Bonello, J.J. et al., 2017. Improving the Conservation of Mediterranean Chondrichthyans: The ELASMOMED DNA Barcode Reference Library. PLoS One, 12(1), e0170244. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170244
Coelho, R., Erzini. K., 2008. Identification of deep water lantern sharks (Chondrichthyes: Etmopteridae) using morphometric data and multivariate analysis. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 88, 199-204.
Compagno, L.J.V., 2001. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Vol. 2. Bullhead, mackerel and carpet sharks (Heterodontiformes, Lamniformes and Orectolobiformes). Report No. 1, vol. 2. Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations, Rome, 269 pp.
Compagno, L.J.V., Dando, M., Fowler, S.L., 2005. Sharks of the World. Princeton University Press, 368 pp.
Ebert, D.A., Fowler, S., Compagno, L.J.V., 2013. Sharks of the world. A fully illustrated guide. Wild Nature Press, Plymouth UK, 528 pp.
Ebert, D.A., White, W.T., Goldman, K.J., Compagno, L.J.V., Daly-Engel, T.S. et al., 2010. Resurrection and redescription of Squalus suckleyi (Girard, 1854) from the North Pacific, with comments on the Squalus acanthias subgroup (Squaliformes: Squalidae). Zootaxa, 2612, 22-40.
Folmer, O., Black, M., Hoeh, W., Lutz, R., Vrijenhoek, R., 1994. DNA primers for amplification of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I from diverse metazoan invertebrates. Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology, 3, 294-299.
Garrick, J.A.F., 1960. Studies on New Zealand Elasmobranchii. Part XII. The species of Squalus from New Zealand and Australia; and a general account and key to the New Zealand Squaloidea. The Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 88, 519-557.
Huelsenbeck, J.P., Ronquist, F., 2001. MRBAYES: Bayesian inference of phylogenetic trees. Bioinformatics, 17, 754-755.
Kemp, N.E., 1999. Integumentary system and teeth. Chapter 2. p. 43-68. In: Sharks, skates and rays: the biology of Elasmobranch fishes. Hamlett, W.C. (Ed). The John Hopkins University Press.
Kousteni, V., Kasapidis, P., Kotoulas, G., Megalofonou, P., 2016. Evidence of high genetic connectivity for the longnose spurdog Squalus blainville in the Mediterranean Sea. Mediterranean Marine Science, 17(2), 371-383.
Landi, M., Dimech, M., Arculeo, M., Biondo, G., Martins, R. et al., 2014. DNA Barcoding for Species Assignment: The Case of Mediterranean Marine Fishes. PLoS One, 9, e106135. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106135
Last, P.R., White, W.T., Pogonoski, J.J., Gledhill, D.C., Yearsley, G.K. et al., 2007. Application of a rapid taxonomic approach to genus Squalus. p. 1-10. In: Description of new dogfishes of the genus Squalus (Squaloidea: Squalidae). Last, P.R., White, W.T., Pogonoski, J.J. (Eds) C.M.A.R.
Librado, P., Rozas, J., 2009. DnaSP v5: a software for comprehensive analysis of DNA polymorphism data. Bioinformatics, 25, 1451-1452.
Marouani, S., Chaâba, R., Kadri, H., Saidi, B., Bouain, A. et al., 2012. Taxonomic research on Squalus megalops (Macleay, 1881) and Squalus blainvillei (Risso, 1827) (Chondrichthyes: Squalidae) in Tunisian waters (central Mediterranean Sea). Scientia Marina, 76, 97-109.
Merrett, M.R., 1973. A new shark of the genus Squalus (Squalidae: Squaloidea) from equatorial western Indian Ocean; with notes on Squalus blainvillei. Journal of Zoology, 171, 93-110.
Miller, S.A., Dykes, D.D., Polesky H.F., 1988. A simple salting out procedure for extracting DNA from human nucleated cells. Nucleic Acids Research, 16, 1215.
Muñoz-Chàpuli, R., Ramos, H., 1989. Morphological comparison of Squalus blainvillei and S. megalops in the eastern Atlantic, with notes on the genus. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology, 36, 6-21.
Muñoz-Chàpuli, R., Ramos, R., Garcia Garrido, L., 1984. Squalus megalops, McLeay, 1882, en el Mediterraneo. Notas sobre su diagnosis sistematica y distribution. Bulletí de la Societat Catalana d'Ictiologia i Herpetologia, 9, 16-21.
Rambaut, A., Suchard, M., Xie, D., Drummond, A., 2014. Tracer v1.6. http://beast.bio.ed.ac.uk/Tracer.
Ronquist, F., Huelsenbeck, J.P., 2003. MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics, 19, 1572-1574.
Serena, F., 2005. Field identification guide to the sharks and rays of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome, 97 p.
Serena, F., Papacostantinou, C., Relini, G., Gil De Sola, L., Bertrand, G.A., 2009. Distribution and abundance of spiny dogfish in the Mediterranean Sea based on the Mediterranean International Trawl Survey Program. p. 139-149. In: Biology and Management of Dogfish Sharks. Gallucci, V.F., McFarlane, G.A., Bargmann, G.G. (Eds). American Fisheries Society.
Tamura, K., Stecher, G., Peterson, D., Filipski, A., Kumar, S., 2013. MEGA6: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 6.0. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 30, 2725-2729.
Veríssimo, A., Cotton, C.F., Buch, R.H., Guallart, J., Burgess, H., 2014. Species diversity of the deep-water sharks (Squaliformes: Centrophoridae: Centrophorus) in North Atlantic waters - current status and taxonomic issues. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 172, 803-830.
Veríssimo, A., Zaera-Perez, D., Leslie, R., Iglésias, S.P., Séret, B. et al., 2017. Molecular diversity and distribution of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean dogfishes Squalus highlight taxonomic issues in the genus. Zoologica Scripta, 46, 414-428.
Viana, S.T.D.F., de Carvalho, M.R., 2016. Redescription of Squalus acutipinnis Regan, 1908, a valid species of spiny dogfish from Southern Africa (Chondrichthyes: Squaliformes: Squalidae). Copeia, 2016, 539-553.
Viana, S.T.D.F., de Carvalho, M.R, Gomes, U.L., 2016. Taxonomy and morphology of species of the genus Squalus Linnaeus 1758 from the southwestern Atlantic Ocean (Chondrichthyes: Squaliformes: Squalidae). Zootaxa, 4133, 1-89.
White, W.T., Ebert, D.A., Naylor, G.J.P., Ho, H.C., Clerkin, P. et.al., 2013. Revision of the genus Centrophorus (Squaliformes: Centrophoridae): part 1 – Redescription of Centrophorus granulosus (Bloch & Schneider), a senior synonym of C. acus Garman and C. niaukang Teng. Zootaxa, 3752, 35-72.
Zar, J.H., 1999. Biostatistical analysis. 4th Edition. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 663 pp.
Zeeberg, J., Corten, A., Graaf, E., 2006. Bycatch and release of pelagic megafauna in industrial trawler fisheries off Northwest Africa. Fisheries Research, 78, 186-195.
Most read articles by the same author(s)