Investigating the Genetics of the Invasive Soldierfish Sargocentron rubrum in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

The opening of the Suez Canal led to the influx of marine organisms from the Indo-Pacific to the Mediterranean Sea (Lessepsian migration). A significant number of Lessepsian species have already established large populations in the region, and many are exhibiting invasive behavior. One of which, Sargocentron rubrum has established large populations in most of the eastern basin, particularly the Levant. This species has a vast native geographic range in the Indo-Pacific realm, from the Red Sea to New Caledonia.

In this work, Sargocentron rubrum individuals were collected from Lebanon and Turkey. They were genetically barcoded for COI mitochondrial gene. Phylogenetic trees were constructed by including available sequences from online databases and genetic distances were calculated.

Phylogenetic trees showed that the species known as Sargocentron rubrum (Forsskål, 1775) formed two distinct clusters, where one of which represents samples from the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The second cluster includes samples from the Indian Ocean, as well as some from the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the results from this study, as solid conclusions cannot be drawn due to the limiting data for S. rubrum.