Biochemical systematics of the marine fish family Centrolophidae (Teleostei: Stromateoidei) from Australian waters

<p>The phylogenetic relationships of 11 stromateoid species (nine from the Family Centrolophidae and one each from the Nomeidae and Tetragonuridae) were examined by allozyme electrophoresis. Data from 30 loci were used for three phylogenetic analyses. Two phenetic trees were derived: a UPGMA tree derived from Nei's unbiased genetic distance, and a distance-Wagner tree based on modified Rogers' distances. A cladistic analysis, using maximum parsimony, was also carried out with loci as characters and alleles as unordered states.</p><p> The tree topology of all three analyses showed a high degree of similarity, which increased confidence in the phylogenetic interpretation and generally supported the classical taxonomic theory of centrolophid relationships. The 'hard-spined' centrolophid taxa, including <i>Seriolella, Psenopsis, Schedophilus labyrinthicus</i> and <i>Hyperoglyphe</i>, formed a stable group In all trees. <i>Psenopsis</i> was closely allied to <i>Seriolella</i> in all three analyses, which supports the view that this genus is derived from <i>Seriolella</i>. <i>Centrolophus</i> and <i>Tubbia</i> consistently diverged from the ancestral line of taxa near the base of the tree, so may have diverged from ancestral stock earlier than previously thought. The most striking departure from current taxonomic theory was the wide separation of <i>Schedophilus labyrinthicus</i> and <i>Schedophilus huttoni</i>, indicating that the genus <i>Schedophilus</i> is polyphyletic. A revision of the genus is needed and should include morphological and electrophoretic analyses of all <i>Schedophilus</i> species, with particular reference to the type species <i>S. medusophagus</i>.</p>