Addressing the complex phylogenetic relationship of the Gempylidae fishes using mitogenome data.

The Gempylidae (snake mackerels) family, belonging to the order Perciformes, consists of about 24 species described in 16 genera primarily distributed in tropical, subtropical, and temperate seas worldwide. Despite substantial research on this family utilizing morphological and molecular approaches, taxonomy categorization in this group has remained puzzling for decades prompting the need for further investigation into the underlying evolutionary history among the gempylids using molecular tools. In this study, we assembled eight complete novel mitochondrial genomes for five Gempylidae species (Neoepinnula minetomai, Neoepinnula orientalis, Rexea antefurcata, Rexea prometheoides, and Thyrsites atun) using Ion Torrent sequencing to supplement publicly available mitogenome data for gempylids. Using Bayesian inference and maximum-likelihood tree search methods, we investigated the evolutionary relationships of 17 Gempylidae species using mitogenome data. In addition, we estimated divergence times for extant gempylids. We identified two major clades that formed approximately 48.05 (35.89-52.04) million years ago: Gempylidae 1 (Thyrsites atun, Promethichthys prometheus, Nealotus tripes, Diplospinus multistriatus, Paradiplospinus antarcticus, Rexea antefurcata, Rexea nakamurai, Rexea prometheoides, Rexea solandri, Thyrsitoides marleyi, Gempylus serpens, and Nesiarchus nasutus) and Gempylidae 2 (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, Ruvettus pretiosus, Neoepinnula minetomai, Neoepinnula orientalis, and Epinnula magistralis). The present study demonstrated the superior performance of complete mitogenome data compared with individual genes in phylogenetic reconstruction. By including T. atun individuals from different regions, we demonstrated the potential for the application of mitogenomes in species phylogeography.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the South African snoek Thyrsites atun (Euphrasén, 1791) (Perciformes, Gempylidae).

This is the first report on the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of South African Thyrsites atun (Euphrasén, 1791) and its phylogenetic placement within the Gempylidae family. The complete mitogenome of snoek is 16,494 bp in length and comprises 2 rRNAs, 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs, and one control region. Gene order is similar to that found in gempylids and other marine fishes. Reconstruction of Gempylidae phylogeny implies that the mitogenomes of snoek, black snoek Thyrsitoides marleyi, and snake mackerel, Gempylus serpens are closely related in evolutionary terms.