EAPSI:Studying Diversity and Evolution of Hakes, a High Priority Group for Fisheries Conservation

Roa-Varon Adela Y, Williamsburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

Even though hakes are some of the most important commercially harvested fishes in the world, identifying their species remains a very problematic task due to their conserved morphology, which results in difficulties in assessing species distributions and stocks. The results of this study will provide a necessary underpinning to conserve biological diversity and optimize the use of fisheries resources in a sustainable way. This is particularly timely because of dramatic declines in hakes abundance and commercial landings. The research will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Chenhong Li at the Shanghai Ocean University. Dr. Li is a noted expert in molecular genetics who has developed the molecular technique that will be used in this study. No comprehensive phylogenetic analysis that includes representatives of all the families among Gadiformes and all species of Hakes (Family Merlucciidae) has been conducted. This limits the understanding of the extent of the family, its taxonomic composition, and its phylogenetic placement within the Gadiformes. Many aspects of hake biology and management are hindered by the confusing taxonomy of the group. The potential of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) approaches for molecular data collection in systematic studies has yet to be realized, and we expect that this study, using Gadiformes and hakes as a model clade, will result in identification of new loci that are phylogenetically informative at different hierarchical levels of fishes by combining a larger taxonomic sampling and the state-of-the-art molecular techniques (sequence capture probes combined with NGS). This study will result in a better understanding of the evolution of commercially valuable fishes, which is necessary for effective fisheries management and the preservation of reproductive and genetic diversity. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.