Global phylogeography of the deep-sea pelagic chaetognath Eukrohnia hamata

The physical barriers in the meso- and bathypelagic layers of the open ocean are obscure compared with those in terrestrial, coastal, and ocean epipelagic habitats, which has led to the assumption that little genetic structure exists within deep-sea zooplankton species. Here, we show that the deep-sea chaetognath Eukrohnia hamata has differentiated genetically in habitats without obvious physical barriers. A partial nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial COI gene was determined for E. hamata collected from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Antarctic oceans, with additional sequences from the congeneric species E. bathypelagica, E. bathyantarctica, and E. fowleri. In the resultant tree, E. hamata and E. bathypelagica, as defined by morphological taxonomy, formed a single lineage in which the two are intermixed. Within this lineage (E. hamata + E. bathypelagica) four major clades (Ham-A–D) were recognized, which showed genetic distances comparable to those between E. bathyantarctica and E. fowleri. Ham-A and D were distributed in the Antarctic and the North Pacific Oceans, respectively. Ham-B and C were cosmopolitan groups, with dominant areas in temperate and equatorial regions, respectively. Additionally, the grasping spines were furnished with distally oriented serration only in the Ham-D individuals. Our results provide evidence of genetic structure in the mtDNA of the assemblage of E. hamata and E. bathypelagica and indicate the necessity for further ecological and genetic studies using nuclear markers.

► Mitochondrial COI sequences of Eukrohnia species were analyzed.
► The status of E. bathypelagica, as distinct from E. hamata, was not supported.
► Four clades were recognized within the lineage “E. hamata + E. bathypelagica”.
► Two of the four clades are geographically limited while the others are cosmopolitan.