Extensive hybridization and associated geographic trends between two rockfishes Sebastes vulpes and S. zonatus (Teleostei: Scorpaeniformes: Sebastidae)

Interspecific hybridization is an important evolutionary process which has significant influence on the diversity within and between participating taxa. Although interspecific hybridization in terrestrial and freshwater organisms have been subjected to many detailed studies, studies in marine realm have been limited in terms of both numbers and detail. In this study, the potential for interspecific hybridization between two rockfishes, Sebastes vulpes and S. zonatus, occurring in the western North Pacific, was assessed on the basis of 177 specimens collected from three sampling localities within the main geographic distribution of both species, and analyzed using a combination of amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers and morphometric characters. Bayesian-based individual genetic assignment based on 364 AFLP loci detected a total of 63 (35.6%) hybrid specimens in the dataset, the presence of interspecific hybrids also being rigorously supported...