Reassessment of multiple species of Gymnelus (Teleostei: Zoarcidae) in Pacific Arctic and boreal regions

• Published in: Zootaxa
• Main Authors: MECKLENBURG, CATHERINE W., ANDERSON, M. ERIC
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Mangolia Press 2015
• Subjects: Zoarcidae; Gymnelus; eelpouts; Gymnelus hemifasciatus; Gymnelus viridis; Arctic; boreal Pacific; DNA barcoding; ecophenotype; Pisces; Pacific; Reinhardt; Pacific Arctic
• Online Access: https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.3964.2.11; https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3964.2.11

Recently described new nominal species and resurrected species in the eelpout genus Gymnelus Reinhardt 1834 were reassessed for validity using fresh material collected in Pacific Arctic regions and a large body of data from a previous systematic review of the genus. The analysis reported here included both DNA barcodes and morphology. Only two species were validated: G. viridis (Fabricius 1780) and G. hemifasciatus Andriashev 1937. The latter species occurred as two morphotypes for which there is some evidence of difference in ecological preference, but the available environ-mental data are not robust enough to firmly identify or verify ecophenotypes.