_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: Email: Mahender.singh2@icar.gov.in; Asian J. Fish. Aqu. Res., vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 1-11, 2022 Asian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research Volume 20, Issue 4, Page 1-11, 2022; Article no.AJFAR.93475 ISSN: 2582-3760 Creation of Species-specific Molecular Signatures of Schilbeid Fishes from River Ganga by Integrative Taxonomy Sarita Tripathi a , Anita Gopesh a , Rashmi Verma b , Ashish Sahu b,c and Mahender Singh b* a Department of Zoology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad-211002, Uttar Pradesh, India. b ICAR- National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow-226 002, Uttar Pradesh, India. c Faculty of fisheries, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Panangad, Cochin, Kerala, India. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/AJFAR/2022/v20i4499 Open Peer Review History: This journal follows the Advanced Open Peer Review policy. Identity of the Reviewers, Editor(s) and additional Reviewers, peer review comments, different versions of the manuscript, comments of the editors, etc are available here: https://www.sdiarticle5.com/review-history/93475 Received: 07/09/2022 Accepted: 13/11/2022 Published: 19/11/2022 ABSTRACT The phylogenetic analysis of Asian schilbeids could not be clearly defined due to lack of data, so the present study generated morphological and DNA barcode data for five commercially important schielbid species namely Clupisoma garua, Eutropiichthys murius, E. vacha, Ailia coila and Silonia silondia from the River Ganga, India. Additionally, 31 sequences of Schielbid species available in GenBank were also included in analysis to present a clear picture of the phylogenetic relationship among Schilbeids. The evolutionary history was inferred by using the Maximum Likelihood method based on the Hasegawa-Kishino-Yano model with Gamma distribution. The average Kimura two parameter (K2P) distance between the species and within the species, show the sufficient separation of species. The neighbour-joining tree revealed distinct clusters in concurrence with the taxonomic status of the species. Our study established sister group relationship between genera of Asian schilbeids as Clupisoma,Laides, Eutropiicthys, Silonia, Ailia, Horabagrus, Pseudeutropius, Neotropius or Pachypterus and also suggest placement of C. sinensis to the genus Laides. Original Research Article