title: Cryptic Caribbean species of Scorpaena (Actinopterygii: Scorpaeniformes) suggested by cytogenetic and molecular data.
abstract: Cytogenetic and molecular analyses enabled identification of two cytotypes among individuals of the spotted scorpion fish Scorpaena plumieri from Margarita Island, Venezuela. Cytotype 1 was characterized by 48 subtelo-acrocentric chromosomes and fundamental number (number of chromosome arms; FN) equalled 48, while cytotype 2 was characterized by two metacentric and 46 subtelo-acrocentric chromosomes and FN was 50. These cytotypes also differed in the location of the ribosomal gene clusters and in the distribution of the constitutive heterochromatin. Moreover, fish from the cytotypes 1 and 2 were found to belong to distinct mitochondrial lineages. The presence of two S. plumieri cytotypes from two lineages separated by high genetic distance suggests that they correspond to sympatric cryptic species.
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Ciencias Aplicadas del Mar, Universidad de Oriente, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela.|Universidad Técnica de Machala, Ecuador.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nirchio
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Morfologia, Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Morfologia, Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Z R
authors.initials: ZR
authors.lastname: Siccha-Ramirez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Morfologia, Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: V F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Sene
authors.affiliation: Universidad Técnica de Machala, Ecuador.
authors.forename: O R
authors.initials: OR
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Romero
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Ciencias Aplicadas del Mar, Universidad de Oriente, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela.
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Ehemann
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "C. Darwin", Sapienza - Università di Roma, Italy. valentina.milana@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Milana
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "C. Darwin", Sapienza - Università di Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "C. Darwin", Sapienza - Università di Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sola
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017691:Caribbean Region; D003582:Cytogenetics; D006570:Heterochromatin; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics; D010473:Perciformes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014687:Venezuela
chemical_list: D006570:Heterochromatin
keywords: Scorpaenidae; coI; in situ hybridization; karyotype; mtDNA