651 



Abstract — Intergeneric hybridization 

 betwt'i'n the epinephcline sorranids Ce- 

 phalopholis fulva and Parnrilhiaa fur- 

 cifcr in waters off Bermuda was inves- 

 tigated by using morphological and 

 molecular characters. Putative hybrids, 

 as well as members of each presumed 

 parent species, were analyzed for 44 

 morphological characters and screened 

 for genetic variation at 16 nuclear 

 allozyme loci, two nuclear (n)DNA loci, 

 and three mitochondrial (mt)DNA gene 

 regions. Four of 16 allozyme loci, cre- 

 atine kinase iCKB'). fumarase {FH*}, 

 isocitrate dehydrogenase UCDH-S*), 

 and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH-B*), 

 were unique in C. fulva and P. furcifer. 

 Restriction fragments of two nuclear 

 DNA intron regions, an actin gene 

 intron and the second intron in the 

 S7 ribosomal protein gene, also exhib- 

 ited consistent differences between 

 the two presumed parent species. Re- 

 striction fragments of three mtDNA 

 regions— ND4, ATPase 6, and 12S/16S 

 ribosomal RNA — were analyzed to 

 identify maternal parentage of puta- 

 tive hybrids. Both morphological data 

 and nuclear genetic data were found to 

 be consistent with the hypothesis that 

 the putative hybrids were the result of 

 interbreeding between C. fulva and P. 

 furcifer. Mean values of 38 morphologi- 

 cal characters were different between 

 presumed parent species, and putative 

 hybrids were intermediate to presumed 

 parent species for 33 of these charac- 

 ters. A principal component analysis 

 of the morphological and meristic data 

 was also consistent with hybridiza- 

 tion between C. fulva and P. furcifer. 

 Thirteen of 15 putative hybrids were 

 heterozygous at all diagnostic nuclear 

 loci, consistent with Fj hybrids. Two 

 putative hybrids were identified as 

 post-F, hybrids based on homozygosity 

 at one nuclear locus each. Mitochon- 

 drial DNA analysis showed that the 

 maternal parent of all putative hybrid 

 individuals was C. fulva. A survey of 

 nuclear and mitochondrial loci of 57 C. 

 fulva and 37 P. furcifer from Bermuda 

 revealed no evidence of introgression 

 between the parent species mediated 

 by hybridization. 



Hybridization between two serranids, 



the coney (Cepholopholis fulva) and the creole-fish 



(Paranthias furcifer), at Bermuda* 



Meredith A. Bostrom 



Department of Fisheries Science 



Virginia institute of Marine Science 



College of William and Mary 



Gloucester Point Virginia 23062-1346 



Present address Division of Endocnnology and Molecular Medicine 



University of Kentucky 



Lexington, Kentucl<y 40536-0001 



Bruce B. Collette 



National Systematics Laboratory 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 

 National Museum of Natural History 

 Washington DC 20560-0153 



Brian E. Luckhurst 



Division of Fishenes 



Department of Agriculture and Fishenes 



Crawl CR BX, Bermuda 



Kimberly S. Reece 



John E. Graves 



Department of Fishenes Science 



Virginia Institute of Manne Science 



College of William and Mary 



Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 1346 



E-mail address (for J E Graves, contact autfior) graves'qivims edu 



Manuscript accepted 25 March 2002. 

 Fish. Bull. 100141:651-661 (2002). 



Poey (1860, 1875) describeti the genus 

 Menephorus for two species, M. dubius 

 Poey, 1860 anci M. punctiferus Poey, 

 1875, each based on a single specimen 

 of grouper that appeared to be interme- 

 diate in morphology between the coney, 

 Cephalopholis fulva and the creole- 

 fish, Paranthias furcifer. Smith (1966) 

 analyzed Poey's specimens for 45 

 meristic and morphometric characters 

 and found the specimens to be interme- 

 diate to P. furcifer and C. fulva for 40 

 of these characters — results consistent 

 with intergeneric hybridization. Smith 

 (1966) also noted that P. furcifer may 

 be more closely related to the epineph- 

 eline serranids (such as C. fulva) than 

 previously thought. Interest in this 

 possible case of intergeneric hybridiza- 

 tion was renewed in 1993 when Bermu- 

 dian ichthyology student James Parris 

 Jr. asked one of the authors if he would 



be interested in a specimen his father 

 caught that "had the head of a coney 

 and the tail of a barber (creole-fish)." 

 Since that time several other putative 

 hybrids have been caught off Bermuda 

 (Smith-Vaniz et al., 1999), and we have 

 initiated a program to collect putative 

 hybrids from local fishermen to further 

 investigate this phenomenon. 



The presumed parents of the puta- 

 tive hybrids are members of different 

 serranid genera that have strikingly 

 different morphologies, occupy different 

 ecological niches, and have different be- 

 haviors (Heemstra and Randall, 1993; 

 Smith, 1966). The major distinguishing 

 features of P. furcifer are its forked 



Contribution 2469 of the Virginia Institute 

 of Marine Science, College of William and 

 Mary, Gloucester Point, VA 23062-1346. 



