BIOLOGIYA MORYA, 2014, Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 455-462

The taxonomic composition and distribution of sand lances of the genus Ammodytes (Perciformes: Ammodytidae) in the northern Pacific

© 2014 S. V. Turanov¹, Yu. Ph. Kartavtsev^1,2

¹A.V. Zhirmunsky Institute of Marine Biology, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok 690041;
²Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok 690090

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The variability of 34 sequences of the 5'-region of the mitochondrial gene Co-1 in fish of the genus Ammodytes is analyzed taking into account their geographic localization. Among these sequences, seven are original and 27 were retrieved from the GenBank. Two hypotheses on the taxonomic composition of northern Pacific sand lances are proposed. The first one, which is preferred by the authors, assumes the presence of four separate species. According to the second one, there is a complex circumpolar species with many local geographic races. Both hypotheses suppose a clear delineation and deep divergence of northern cold-water and southern warmer-water sand lances. The data obtained, as well as the analysis of the history of study of the Far-Eastern sand lance taxonomy suggest that the species name Ammodytes personatus is not correct for sand lances from the Yellow Sea and the southern Sea of Japan, as well as for some representatives of the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk and adjacent waters that form a separate monophyletic group under the current name Ammodytes hexapterus.

Key words: Ammodytes, sand lances, taxonomic composition, distribution, mitochondrial gene Co-1, cryptic biodiversity.