Using vertebrate environmental DNA from seawater in biomonitoring of marine habitats

Conservation and management of marine biodiversity depends on biomonitoring of marine habitats, but current approaches are resource‐intensive and require different approaches for different organisms. Environmental DNA (eDNA) extracted from water samples is an efficient and versatile approach to detecting aquatic animals. In the ocean, eDNA composition reflects local fauna at fine spatial scales, but little is known about the effectiveness of eDNA‐based monitoring of marine communities at larger scales. We investigated the potential of eDNA to characterize and distinguish marine communities at large spatial scales by comparing vertebrate species composition among marine habitats in Qatar, the Arabian Gulf (also known as the Persian Gulf), based on eDNA metabarcoding of seawater samples. We conducted species accumulation analyses to estimate how much of the vertebrate diversity we detected. We obtained eDNA sequences from a diverse assemblage of marine vertebrates, spanning 191 taxa in 73 families. These included rare and endangered species and covered 36% of the bony fish genera previously recorded in the Gulf. Sites of similar habitat type were also similar in eDNA composition. The species accumulation analyses showed that the number of sample replicates was insufficient for some sampling sites but suggested that a few hundred eDNA samples could potentially capture >90% of the marine vertebrate diversity in the study area. Our results confirm that seawater samples contain habitat‐characteristic molecular signatures and that eDNA monitoring can efficiently cover vertebrate diversity at scales relevant to national and regional conservation and management.Maersk Oil; Qatar National Research Fund. Grant Number: NPRP 7 ‐ 1129 ‐ 1 – 201; Naturvidenskab og Teknologi, Aarhus Universite

Review of the dinematichthyini (Teleostei: Bythitidae) of the Indo-west Pacific. Part III. \u27Beaglichthys, Brosmolus, Monothrix\u27 and eight new genera with description of 20 new species

Volume: 23Start Page: 29End Page: 11

Review of the dinematichthyini (Teleostei, Bythitidae) of the Indo-west Pacific. Part II. \u27Dermatopsis, dermatopsoides\u27 and \u27dipulus\u27 with description of six new species

Volume: 22Start Page: 39End Page: 7

Review of the Dinematichthyini (Teleostei: Bythitidae) of the Indo-west Pacific.Part IV. \u27Dinematichthys\u27 and two new genera with descriptions of nine new species

Volume: 24Start Page: 87End Page: 14

Review of the Dinematichthyini (Teleostei: Bythitidae) of the Indo-west Pacific. Part I. Diancistrus and Two New Genera with 26 New Species

Volume: 21Start Page: 73End Page: 16

A new species of the cave-fish genus Lucifuga (Ophidiiformes, Bythitidae), from eastern Cuba

Recently, a barcoding study and a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Cuban species of the cave-fish genus Lucifuga Poey, 1858 revealed the existence of different evolutionary lineages that were previously unknown or passed unnoticed by morphological scrutiny (i.e., cryptic candidate species). In the present study, Lucifuga gibarensis is described as a new species restricted to anchialine caves in the northeastern karst region of the main island. The species was earlier described as a variety of Lucifuga dentata, but since the name was introduced as a variety after 1960, it is deemed to be infrasubspecific and unavailable according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Art. 15.2. The new species differs from L. dentata by pigmented eyes vs. eyes absent and lack of palatine teeth vs. present. Lucifuga gibarensis seems to be most similar to the Bahamian species L. lucayana by showing pigmented eyes, 13 or 14 precaudal vertebrae and ten caudal fin rays. However, differs from it by a larger size of the pigmented eye (1.1–1.9 vs. 0.9–1.0% SL) and number of posterior lateral line neuromasts (30–33 vs. 34–35)