Pukyong National University

'Notice' PKNU has discovered new species of inshore hagfish, red eel goby.
The results of Fish Research Laboratory ... Present at a conference of The Korean Association of Biological sciences

△ Song Young-seon(right), Son Min-soo. ⓒ Photo by Lee Sung-jae (PR team)

New species of Korean inshore hagfish (Epatretus burgeri), red eel goby (Ctenotrypauchen microcephalus) have been found and attract the attention of marine biology.

Ph.D. Song Young-sun (Advisor Kim Jin-goo) of the Pukyong National University's Fish Research Laboratory, recently announced the results of finding new species candidates for family Myxinidae.

Up to now, two kinds of eel and fish have been reported in Korea, namely family Myxinidae and fishes of eel. However, the results of the analysis showed that the family Myxinidae and fishes collected from Wando and Jeju Island last year were different from the two species.

The inshore hagfish and brown hagfish have 6 pairs of gill holes, but the new candidate found this time was 5 pairs of gill holes. In the DNA analysis, the new candidates differed by more than 8% between inshore hagfish and brown hagfish of the 'CO I' area. If the difference in this area is more than 3%, it is considered another species.

The researcher Song said, "The new candidate found in this time is not only different from the two kinds of family Myxinidae and fish in Korea, but also 81 species of family Myxinidae and fishes that live in the world."

In addition, Son Min-su (master's course, 1 year) in the same laboratory announced the results of a study that in 2016, the fishes in the red eel goby collected from the Ieo Island and the south coast are different from the known ones. As a result of morphological and molecular analyzes of new candidates in the genus and existing ones, they were clearly distinguished from the vertebral bone marrow and gene sequences.

The researcher Son said, "Up until now, only 1 species of 1 genus of the red eel goby has been reported worldwide, but this discovery confirmed the possibility of 2 types of 1 genus distribution."

Kim Jin-gu, a professor of Marine biology at Pukyong National University, who is the head of the marine fish resources deposit registration and preservation organization, said, “The new research findings for new species of marine organisms are important in the context of increasing importance of biological resources.”

Meanwhile, Song and Sohn recently presented the results at the 2019 Korean Association of Biological science's regular conference in Jeju Island, and received the Best Paper, oral Presentation and Best Paper Poster Presentation. <Pukyong today>

△ Photo of family Myxinidae and new species of fishes (top) and inshore hagfish (bottom). 


△ Photo of red eel goby (A) and new candidate (B) of red eel goby