• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.967-972
• /
• 2022

We investigated the molecular and morphological traits of 338 individual macrourids collected from the Southern Ocean (FAO area number, 88.1 and 88.3) between 2021 and 2022 by Korean bottom trawls. We first identified them as Macrourus caml and Macrourus whitsoni based on morphological traits, such as the number of pelvic fin rays (PF) and the rows of lower jaw teeth (LJT). However four individuals showed uncategorizable morphological characteristics such as PF and LJT numbers that overlapped between the two species. Subsequently, we obtained and analyzed 509 bp of the mtDNA COI sequences of 49 individuals, including the four unidentified individuals, and found only one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that distinguished the two species. Finally, using our molecular identification key, we confirmed that each two individuals were misidentified as M. whitsoni and M. caml reversely. Our results suggest that the number of PF and LJT should be investigated together to accurately identify the two species.