Resolving the taxonomic ambiguities in the distribution of Acropoma splendens (Lloyd, 1909) from Arabian Sea of Indian EEZ: An integrative taxonomic approach

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Seventy-three specimens of Acropomatids measuring 40.7-90.8 mm standard length were collected from commercial multi-day fishing trawlers at 25-50 m depth off the Mumbai coast, Arabian Sea, Northwest coast of India. The morphological and morphometric diagnostic characters of the collected specimens matches with Acropoma splendens (Lloyd, 1909) with the key features viz., the presence of a vertical line on the cheek, four rows of scales between the first dorsal fin and lateral line; gill raker count 19 – 22 numbers; pectoral fin rays 16 numbers; anus situated closer to the pelvic fin than to the anal fin; short and U-shaped luminous gland around the anus with a length of 12 – 16.9 % of standard length. Further, through cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequencing analysis validated and confirmed the identity of the specimens as Acropoma splendens (Lloyd 1909). The comparison of COI gene sequences of A. splendens in the present study with the COI gene sequences of its interspecies of the Acropoma genus revealed that Acropoma splendens had the highest intraspecies distance (5.8) with A. japonicum and the least intraspecies distance (1.839) with A. hanedai and A. argentistigma was 3.0. Thus, integrative taxonomic unraveling the taxonomic ambiguity of the species and confirmed the presence of A. splendens for the first time from the Arabian Sea of Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).