| To identify snailfish specimens collected in the central and southern Yellow Sea, both morphology method and cytochrome oxidase subunit geneⅠanalysis were conducted in this paper. The results showed that 22 specimens were Liparis tanakae according to meristic and measurable characteristics, including the fin ray number of pectoral fin, anal fin, dorsal fin, caudal fin, the number of pyloric caecum, the ratios of head length/body length, body depth/body length, head length/snout length, interorbital space/eye diameter etc. In all L. tanakae specimens, 4 specimens were covered with obvious brown transverse spots. Five specimens had irregular spots, white radiation lines in ocular region, obvious longitudinal grain in the head and caudal fin. Nine specimens had the brown or black brown fine spots on the head and body side, one white patch in the base of caudal fin, and black anal fin. Another 4 specimens had reddish-brown with longitudinal striate, the fin membrane edge of dorsal fin, anal fin, pectoral fin, and caudal fin. There was one specimen belonged to Liparis chefuensis that had the irregular white spots in the head and body back, long caudal fin, the round convex at its back end, 6−7 dense spots in the two sides of the base of dorsal fin. These results were supported by the cytochrome oxidase subunit geneⅠanalysis. The genetic distance between 22 L. tanakae specimens were 0.002−0.003, and the genetic distance between L. tanakae and L. chefuensis was 0.134. The genetic distance between L. tanakae and the other species, for example L. dennyi, L. gibbus, L. fucensis were 0.057−0.067. These findings indicated that Liparidae species in the Yellow Sea were mainly composed of L. tanakae. |
