Insights on lyretail groupers (Variola spp.) from a market survey and DNA barcoding

The lyretails (genus Variola ) are valuable reef-associated food fishes with a wide Indo-Pacific distribution with two valid species in the WORMS database: Variola albimarginata and V. louti . Studies using various molecular markers, especially the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) DNA “barcode” indicate intra-species diversity and possible cryptic species. Variola sequences in public databases (BOLD and GenBank) do not include any specimens from waters around Sulawesi. In this study we obtained DNA Barcode (COI) sequences and morphometric data from three Variola specimens caught by local fishermen and sold on fish markets in Makassar South Sulawesi. DNA was extracted from fin clippings (right pectoral fin) and PCR performed at the Maros Research Station. Sanger sequencing (Genetic Science, Jakarta) output was aligned and trimmed in MEGA 11. Homologous Variola sequences obtained through the NCBI GenBank BLASTn and BOLD search functions were used in phylogenetic analyses (MEGA 11). Morphological and DNA barcoding both identified the specimens as V. albimarginata (n = 2) and V. louti (n = 1), although phylogenetic analyses indicate a third clade (possible cryptic species) in the eastern Pacific. Haplotype network analyses indicate intraspecies biogeographic patterns divided by the Wallace Line, especially in V. albimarginata . These results have implications for fisheries management and call for further research to delimit evolutionarily significant units/stocks within the genus Variola .