• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.46 no.5
• /
• pp.589-593
• /
• 2013

Scolecenchelys borealis was first added to the Korean fish fauna based on one leptocephalus specimen (total length (TL) 59.2 mm) collected from Dokdo, in the East Sea. Recently, however, Scolecenchelys borealis has been treated as a junior synonym of Scolecenchelys aoki, necessitating review of the scientific name S. borealis. This study describes the morphological characteristics of S. aoki based on an adult specimen (TL 230.0 mm) collected from the sea south of Korea and compares its mitochondrial DNA 12S rRNA sequence with that of the S. borealis leptocephalus. The adult S. aoki is characterized by several morphological features: vertebral formula 59-55-135; preanal lateral pores 55; infraorbital pores two; teeth on upper jaw visible externally when the mouth is closed; the dorsal fin originates just behind the anus; both jaws and vomerine teeth are conical, arranged in two rows. An analysis of an 886-base paire sequence of the 12S rRNA showed that adult S. aoki was concordant with the S. borealis leptocephalus (sensu Ji et al., 2012), indicating that both are the same species.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.415-424
• /
• 2012

Four species of ophichthid leptocephali were identified using 12S rDNA sequences, and their morphological descriptions were first provided based on six individuals (S1-S3,M1, and E1-E2) collected from the East Sea and the Korea Strait between September 2008 and October 2010. Mitochondrial 12S rDNA 859-861 base pairs of ophichthid leptocephali were compared with those of 16 ophichthids adult and 2 outgroups (Anguilla japonica and Conger myriaster). Leptocephali of S1 and E1 were very closely clustered with adult of Scolecenchelys borealis (D=0.002) and Echelus uropterus (D=0.000), respectively. However, leptocephali of S2-S3 andM1 were slightly far clustered with leptocephalus of S1 (D=0.006) and adult of Muraenichthys gymnopterus (0.034), respectively. We believe that S1 and E1 are S. borealis and E. uropterus, respectively, in which the former is unrecorded species in Korea. However, S2-S3 and M1 may be undescribed species belonging to genus Scolecenchelys and Muraenichthys, respectively, because total numbers of myomeres for S2-S3 (148-158) and M1 (151) were not consistent with total numbers of vertebrae or distribution for any adult of Scolecenchelys spp. and Muraenichthys spp. in the world. We propose the new Korean name 'Dong-hae-mul-baem' for S. borealis.