ANÁLISE INTEGRATIVA PARA VALIDAÇÃO DA DIVERSIDADE DE PEIXES-VOADORES (EXOCOETIDAE) NO ARQUIPÉLAGO DE SÃO PEDRO E SÃO PAULO, REGIÃO MESO-ATLÂNTICA
Marine fish, Taxonomy, Evolution, DNA barcode.
The Exocoetidae family, to which flying fish belong, is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical waters, is epipelagic and inhabits the surface waters of open oceans. In Brazil, this family is made up of 74 species, distributed in seven genera. In addition to their diversity, flying fish constitute a valuable biological model for ecological and evolutionary studies, as they present varied morphological specializations and constitute an important ecological link in the trophic chain as preferred prey for predators of high commercial value. The monophyly of the Exocoetidae family is well established and has been confirmed by morphological and molecular data. However, genomic information remains incipient to estimate the current diversity of flying fish, especially species that occur in the São Pedro and São Paulo archipelago (ASPSP). The present work aims to expand the genomic information of flying fish (Exocoetidae) from the São Pedro and São Paulo Archipelago, contributing to the prospecting of biodiversity. All species were identified through morphometric and morphological characteristics and were validated through sequencing with mitochondrial molecular markers (COI) and compared with sequences deposited in the GenBank/BOLD sequence bank. As a result, a total of 32 specimens were sampled for the ASPSP, divided into 4 species and 3 genera. An unprecedented illustrated catalog of flying fish and a dichotomous key were created to facilitate species identification in the ASPSP.