A Tale of Three Tails: Cryptic Speciation in a Globally Distributed Marine Fish of the Genus Seriola

Genetic data are increasingly being applied to re-evaluate past taxonomic hypotheses and better understand the evolutionary patterns and connectivity among regional populations of cosmopolitan species. This is of particular importance for heavily exploited, commercially important species. The phylogenetic structure of the Yellowtail Jack, Seriola lalandi Valenciennes, 1833, was investigated using genetic data from 42 individuals collected from California, the Pacific coast of Baja California (Mexico), the Gulf of California (Mexico), New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, and Chile. An analysis using S. dumerili as an outgroup and combining the sequences of two mitochondrial genes (CR and COI) and four nuclear genes (RAG2, EHHADH, UBE3A, MLL) was used to determine the level of genetic divergence among samples from different geographic regions. Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood analyses utilizing combined mitochondrial gene (mtDNA) or nuclear gene (nucDNA) data supported the existence of multiple regionally restr...