Figure 1

The proposed distribution and migration routes in the Northwest Pacific (NWP) of three cryptic species of Mugil cephalus to their spawning area in the Taiwan Strait. (A) NWP1’s distribution (green) and migration route from the coast of China. (B) NWP2’s distribution (red) and migration route following the Kuroshio Current. (C) NWP3’s distribution (blue) and migration direction from the SCS. (D) The distribution map of three cryptic species; purple indicates the spawning area shared among the three M. cephalus cryptic species in the Taiwan Strait. The maps were adapted from Shen et al., 2011¹⁵ and created in GenGIS software⁵⁸.