Short Communication Molecular data indicate the presence of a novel species of Centropomus (Centropomidae – Perciformes) in the Western Atlantic Joiciane N. de Oliveira, Grazielle Gomes, Péricles Sena do Rêgo, Sávia Moreira, Iracilda Sampaio, Horacio Schneider, Juliana Araripe ⇑ Laboratório de Genética e Conservação, Instituto de Estudos Costeiros de Bragança, UFPA, Alameda Leandro Ribeiro, SN, Aldeia, Bragança, Pará, Brazil article info Article history: Received 25 January 2014 Revised 12 April 2014 Accepted 17 April 2014 Available online 30 April 2014 Keywords: New species Common snook Phylogeography abstract Centropomus undecimalis is distributed in the coastal waters of the western Atlantic between North Carolina and São Paulo, although very little is known of the genetic structure of its populations. Here, 148 C. undecimalis samples were obtained from six sites in the southwestern Atlantic, representing the Brazilian distribution of this species. Segments of three mitochondrial (Cytb, COI and 16S) and one nuclear (IGF1) gene were sequenced. The results of all analyses indicated the presence of a previously undetected lineage of Centropomus in the northern extreme of Brazil (Amapá) in the region of the Oiapoque estuary. This taxon is genetically distinct from all 12 recognized species of Centropomus. The populations from the Brazilian states of Pará, Maranhão, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo were genet- ically similar to C. undecimalis from coastal areas of the Caribbean and USA. Nucleotide divergence between C. undecimalis and the new Oiapoque taxon are greater than or similar to those found between a number of valid Centropomus species. The estimated time of divergence between C. undecimalis and the new taxon is approximately 2 million years. The findings of the present study emphasize the need for a thorough taxonomic revision of this genus. Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Fishes of the family Centropomidae inhabit tropical and sub- tropical waters. They are found in oceanic, estuarine and fluvial environments and are commonly associated with mangroves (Gilmore et al., 1983). According to Li et al. (2011) the Centropomi- dae (sensu Greenwood) comprises three genera, Centropomus, Lates and Psammoperca, the former consisting of 12 species. Six species of Centropomus are found exclusively in the western Atlantic Ocean: C. undecimalis (Bloch, 1792); C. poeyi Chávez, 1961; C. par- allelus Poey, 1860; C. mexicanus Bocourt, 1868; C. pectinatus Poey, 1860 and C. ensiferus Poey, 1860. The remaining species occur in the eastern Pacific Ocean: C. viridis Lockington, 1877; C. nigrescens Günther, 1864; C. medius Günther, 1864; C. unionensis Bocourt, 1868; C. armatus Gill, 1863; and C. robalito Jordan and Gilbert, 1882. There are no records of hybrids between the Atlantic and Pacific taxa (Rivas, 1986). Centropomus undecimalis is found between North Carolina (USA) and São Paulo, Brazil (Cervigón, 1993; Ribeiro et al., 2012)(Fig. 1). It typically inhabits estuaries and prefers calm, shady waters (Rivas, 1986). During the reproductive period, sexually mature individuals seek river mouths or estuaries in which to spawn. Spawning usually occurs during the flood tide, which returns the eggs or larvae to the estuary where they develop into adults (Peters et al., 1998). The only phylogeographic study available for C. undecimalis was based on the analysis of isozyme markers and RFLPs in the mito- chondrial DNA, which revealed genetic sub-structuring between the stocks from the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and east- ern coast of Florida (Tringali and Bert, 1996). These authors sug- gested that the populations were reproductively isolated, with no gene flow between groups. On the other hand, a phylogeographic study of C. parallelus populations from the Brazilian coast (between Maranhão and Santa Catarina states), based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, revealed the presence of only a single genetic stock, indicating meaningful gene flow between the populations (Prodocimo et al., 2008). Few other studies have examined genetic structuring in centrop- omid species. Sandoval-Castellanos et al. (2005) and Díaz-Jaimes et al. (2007) analyzed three species from the Pacific coast of Mexico and found only slight differentiation among populations in C. medius and C. viridis, and negligible levels in C. robalito. These authors concluded that the sub-structuring found in C. medius and C. viridis may be related to biological factors, environmental variables, and geographic distance. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2014.04.019 1055-7903/Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: julianaararipe@yahoo.com.br (J. Araripe). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 77 (2014) 275–280 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ympev