Molecular and morphological variation in saddled fathead sculpins (Psychrolutidae: Cottunculus ) of the north‐east Atlantic Ocean, with a synonymy of three species

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Byrkjedal, I., Hadler‐Jacobsen, S., Rees, D., Orlov, A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2014
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Barents Sea; Greenland; Sadko; Svalbard; East Greenland; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12458; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fjfb.12458; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jfb.12458

On the basis of 104 individuals of Cottunculus from the Norwegian coast, the Barents Sea, Svalbard and north‐east Greenland waters, this paper evaluates the descriptive taxonomic characters of three species Cottunculus sadko , Cottunculus microps and Cottunculus konstantinovi and links the character variation to genetic characterizations. Eleven morphological characters used as diagnostic characters in the original descriptions of these species were analysed in pair‐wise character comparisons. All characters show cross‐species traits when in combination with each other, and all individuals show traits of more than one of the species. Partial cytochrome oxidase c subunit I ( coI ) gene sequences from 21 individuals, covering the morphological variation among the specimens, show little variation among the individuals. From these results, it is concluded that the descriptive characters do not support the maintenance of more than one species. It is recommended that C. microps remains the name for this species, with C. sadko and C. konstantinovi as junior synonyms.