Taxonomy and Phylogenetics of Marine Fish Species

The taxonomy and phylogenetics of marine fish species integrate morphological, meristic and molecular approaches to classify biodiversity and unravel evolutionary relationships. Traditional taxonomy relies on external characters such as fin ray counts, scale patterns and morphometrics, while modern systematics increasingly employs DNA-based markers to resolve cryptic diversity and test species boundaries. Phylogenetic frameworks constructed from mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences provide hypotheses of lineage divergence, biogeographic history and adaptive radiation in marine environments. Together, these disciplines inform species discovery, guide conservation priorities and underpin sustainable fisheries management. Advances in high-throughput sequencing and environmental DNA have accelerated the detection of rare or deep-sea taxa, revealing hidden clades and reshaping our understanding of speciation processes. As global change threatens marine ecosystems, robust taxonomic inventories and evolutionary trees are essential for monitoring biodiversity loss and anticipating ecological shifts across ocean realms.

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Taxonomy and Phylogenetics of Marine Fish Species publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in taxonomy and phylogenetics of marine fish species across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Taxonomy: The science of naming, describing and classifying organisms into hierarchical groups based on shared characteristics.

Phylogenetics: The study of evolutionary relationships among organisms, typically represented as branching trees.

Monophyly: A group of organisms consisting of a common ancestor and all its descendants.

eDNA metabarcoding: A technique that analyses environmental DNA in water or sediment to detect multiple species simultaneously through high-throughput sequencing.

DNA barcoding: The use of a standard genetic marker, often mitochondrial COI, to identify species and assess genetic divergence.

Cytochrome oxidase I (COI): A mitochondrial gene widely used as a barcode region for distinguishing closely related fish species.

References

1. Taxonomic Revision of the Genus Croaker Johnius (Perciformes: Sciaenidae) in Taiwanese Waters. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (2023).
2. Detection of the Largest Deep-Sea-Endemic Teleost Fish at Depths of Over 2,000 m Through a Combination of eDNA Metabarcoding and Baited Camera Observations. Frontiers in Marine Science (2022).
3. Monophyly and re-definition of the Indo-Pacific scorpionfish genus Parascorpaena Bleeker 1876 (Scorpaenidae). Japanese Journal of Ichthyology (2024).