Taxonomy, Diversity and Distribution of Marine Clupeiformes

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2026 | Viewed by 600

Editor


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Guest Editor
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son, Okinawa, Japan
Interests: taxonomy; phylogeny; morphology; biogeography

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The order Clupeiformes includes more than 400 species, often commonly called sardines or anchovies. This order includes many species important for fisheries, such as Engraulis ringens and Clupea harengus, and is used for a variety of purposes, including food, fertilizer, aquaculture feed, and fish bait. However, research into the biodiversity of Clupeiformes has not been conducted sufficiently. Many species continue to face heavy fishing pressure around the world, and many species inhabit shallow coastal waters that are vulnerable to development. Some species are thought to be silently at risk of extinction. We will be publishing a Special Issue dealing with fundamental research to reduce potential risks to the biodiversity of this group.

Dr. Harutaka Hata
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • sardine
  • anchovy
  • biogeography
  • phylogeny

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 1686 KB  
Article
Strong Regional Structure in the Population Genetics of Reef-Associated Bluebacked Sprat, Spratelloides delicatulus, Along the Great Barrier Reef
by Kynan Hartog-Burnett, Kyall R. Zenger, Gabriele Gerlach and Michael J. Kingsford
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(12), 1070; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14121070 - 8 Jun 2026
Viewed by 330
Abstract
Clupeiform bait fishes play critical roles in marine food chains and fisheries worldwide. Despite a paradigm of large stocks in temperate regions, the structure of clupeiform populations in complex coral reef environments is poorly described. This study assessed the population structure of a [...] Read more.
Clupeiform bait fishes play critical roles in marine food chains and fisheries worldwide. Despite a paradigm of large stocks in temperate regions, the structure of clupeiform populations in complex coral reef environments is poorly described. This study assessed the population structure of a small reef-based clupeiform, Spratelloides delicatulus, over spatial scales of kilometres to 1000’s of kilometres on the Great Barrier Reef using sequence data from the control region of the mitochondrial D-Loop. Following confirmation of the species, we found strong stock structure within the metapopulation of the GBR. Three significantly different stock units were found, and these were closely related to three strongly divergent clades that were associated with changes in latitude. Within these stocks, a surprisingly strong structure was observed among reefs separated at scales of less than 10 km. This species likely has a complex demographic history with recent expansion and potential for incipient cryptic speciation evident by the sympatry observed at some reefs. The short lives and complex stock structure we have found for sprats on coral reefs contrasts with the findings from traditional stocks of high latitude clupeiforms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Taxonomy, Diversity and Distribution of Marine Clupeiformes)
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