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Corresponding author: Joo Myun Park ( joomyun@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Sanja Matić-Skoko
© 2022 Se Hun Myoung, Jung-Goo Myoung, Laith A. Jawad, Maeng Jin Kim, Joo Myun Park.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Myoung SH, Myoung J-G, Jawad LA, Kim MJ, Park JM (2022) First report of abnormal body coloration in Sebastes koreanus (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Sebastinae). Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 52(3): 209-213. https://doi.org/10.3897/aiep.52.89592
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This study reports the first record of abnormal coloration in Sebastes koreanus Kim et Lee, 1994. The specimen (163.4 mm standard length and 197.3 mm total length) was collected from the Yellow Sea in South Korea in July 2021. The whole body of the specimens was red, and all fins also had red coloration while the slight dark red pattern under the eyes and dark spot on the opercula were similar to normal S. koreanus. It also showed a similar dotted pattern on the pectoral fins with a normal specimen.
abnormal coloration, new maximum size, Sebastes koreanus, Yellow Sea
Color variations have been reported in several fish species. They appear in both natural and aquaculture fishes (
Sebastes koreanus Kim et Lee, 1994 belongs to the genus Sebastes, of which approximately 110 species are known worldwide, with more than 30 species found in the North Pacific (
In this study, a single specimen of S. koreanus was collected by fishing on the western coast of Korea, but its body size was considerably larger, and its color was unusually different from usual S. koreanus specimens. We aimed to confirm if the specimen was S. koreanus and to study whether there are intraspecific color variations in S. koreanus through morphology and molecular analyses. Consequently, this study reports the first abnormal body coloration S. koreanus collected from the western waters of Korea.
A Sebastes koreanus specimen with a total length (TL) of 197.3 mm was collected from Ongdo (36°38′49.81′′N, 126°0′30.56′′E) in the coastal waters of Taean Province, western Korea (Fig.
To compare molecular data, total genomic DNA was extracted from muscle tissue using 10% Chelex resin (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA). A portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was amplified using universal primers (
Subfamily: Sebastinae Kaup, 1873
Sebastes Cuvier, 1829
Suggested English common name: yellow Korean rockfish
Figs
Body moderately compressed (Fig.
Dorsal fin rays XIV, 12; anal fin rays III, 6; pectoral fin rays 16; pelvic fin rays I, 5; lateral line pores 31. Proportions as percentage (%) of SL (163.4 mm): head length 37.6; head width 22.0; head depth 31.0; snout length 11.1; orbit diameter 9.1; interorbital width 6.5; body depth 39.0; body width 21.3; upper jaw length 16.8; pre-dorsal fin length 35.6; pre-anal fin length 74.4; pectoral fin length 29.9; pelvic fin length 24.5; 1st dorsal fin spine length 5.3; 2nd dorsal fin spine length 7.8; 3rd dorsal fin spine length 11.4; longest dorsal fin ray length 15.7; 1st anal fin spine length 7.0; 2nd anal fin spine length 16.1; 3rd anal fin spine length 14.0; caudal peduncle length 18.3; caudal peduncle depth 11.1.
Body generally orange, upper part of head faded yellow, with two slight dark red stripes behind and under eye (Fig.
Based on the analysis of the COI gene sequence (577 bp) of the presently reported specimen and the mtDNA COI region of S. koreanus registered in the NCBI, the genetic distance between the two individuals was found to be 0.002. The other four species in the genus Sebastes had genetic distances of 0.032–0.051 (Fig.
A neighbor-joining tree based on the partial mitochondrial DNA COI gene region using Sebastes koreanus (KIOST_22_001) showing the relations among the four species of Sebastes and one outgroup (Sebastiscus marmoratus). Numbers at the branches indicate bootstrap probabilities in 10 000 bootstrap replications. Scale bar equals 0.01 of Tamura and Nei’s distance (1993) with K2 parameter model. Abbreviation: COI, cytochrome oxidase subunit I.
Sebastes koreanus is generally dark brown with dark stripes and tiny dark spots, four to five vertical patterns on the body side, small brown spots scattered on each fin, two stripes behind and below the eyes, one dark blotch on the opercula, interspersed black dots on the pectoral fins, and 14 dorsal fin spines (
The abnormal body colorations of fishes are mainly due to the lack or excess of melanin, which causes albinism and melanism, respectively (
Sebastes koreanus showed a relatively narrow distribution range, inhabiting only the Yellow Sea off the Korean and Chinese coasts. This study collected a single specimen of S. koreanus and reported a color variation in S. koreanus, with the body having an unusually orange color.
This research was supported by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of Korea (PM63010) and by a grant from the National Institute of Fisheries Sciences (R2022036). The authors would like to thank Enago (www.enago.co.kr) for the English-language review.