title: Morphological description of genetically identified Cortez bonefish (Albula gilberti, Pfeiler and van der Heiden 2011) leptocephali from the southern Gulf of California.
abstract: Bonefish leptocephali of the genus Albula are difficult to identify to the species level due to morphological similarities between two different species present in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean, A. esuncula and A. gilberti. In this study, 22 bonefish leptocephali (premetamorphic and early metamorphic), collected from two locations in the southern Gulf of California were identified as Albula gilberti by comparing 459 bp of their mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences to those of four other species of bonefish. The characteristics of these A. gilberti leptocephali were compared to those of previously described bonefish leptocephali in the region. No distinctive morphological characteristics (meristic and pigmentation) were found that differentiate premetamorphic leptocephali of A. gilberti from those of other Albula species, making species identification by molecular-genetics a necessity. In early metamorphic leptocephali some differences in horizontal eye diameter-head length ratio, number of rays of pelvic and anal fins and myomere of pelvic-fin origin may help to differentiate A. gilberti from A. esuncula.
authors.affiliation: a Instituto Politécnico Nacional-Centro Interdisciplinario De Ciencias Marinas (IPN-CICIMAR) , La Paz , Mexico.
authors.forename: Noé
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Díaz-Viloria
authors.affiliation: a Instituto Politécnico Nacional-Centro Interdisciplinario De Ciencias Marinas (IPN-CICIMAR) , La Paz , Mexico.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Velasco
authors.affiliation: b Centro De Investigaciones Biológicas Del Noroeste (CIBNOR) , La Paz , Mexico.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Perez-Enriquez
authors.affiliation: a Instituto Politécnico Nacional-Centro Interdisciplinario De Ciencias Marinas (IPN-CICIMAR) , La Paz , Mexico.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zárate-Villafranco
authors.affiliation: c Department of Marine Science and Resources, College of Bioresource Sciences , Nihon University , Kameino , Kanagawa , Japan.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: a Instituto Politécnico Nacional-Centro Interdisciplinario De Ciencias Marinas (IPN-CICIMAR) , La Paz , Mexico.
authors.forename: Sylvia P A
authors.initials: SPA
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Rosenberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002140:California; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000235:genetics*; D005123:Eye / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005399:Fishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D006257:Head / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D045303:Cytochromes b
keywords: Albula gilberti; Gulf of California; cytochrome b; genetic identification; leptocephali