Pukyong National University

"Since the red sea bream is the same genus as the golden sea bream, the scientific name should be changed"

- Bae Jae-Kyung, a researcher from PKNU, presented research results at an academic conference of the Ichthyological society of Korea

△ Photo of Korean red sea bream (left) and New Zealand golden sea bream.

Red sea bream and golden sea bream belong to the same genus, and it has been argued that the scientific name of red sea bream (genus-pagrus) should be changed to the same scientific name as the golden sea bream (genus-chrysophrys).

Bae Jae-Kyung, a researcher (in master's program) at the department of marine biology at Pukyong National University, recently presented the research results at the Ichthyological society of Korea held at the wellness center at Lotte world in Seoul, and received the Best oral presentation award.

At the conference, Bae comprehensively analyzed the molecule methodology and osteological research of sea bream and fish and announced a new research result that the scientific name of red sea bream should be changed from 'pagrus major' to 'chrysophrys major' for the first time in Korea.

The red sea bream living in the northwest pacific and the golden sea bream in the southwest pacific have very close morphology and genetic information, so the question of the relationship between these two species has been raised continuously since the past.

Korea, China, and Japan have used the scientific name of red sea bream as 'pagrus major' since a long time ago, but in Australia and New Zealand, the scientific name of the golden sea bream, which is similar to red sea bream, has been used as 'pagrus auratus', but recently it has been changed to 'chrysophrys auratus'.

Researcher Bae paid attention to the possibility that red sea bream also does not belong to the pagrus following the trend of overseas research. From his point of view, the pagrus is distributed mainly in the atlantic and mediterranean.

In this study, Bae analyzed the molecular and skeletal traits of the pagrus, chrysophrys, and evynnis, which are distributed all over the world, and discovered the skeletal traits that distinguish pagrus from chrysophrys. He concluded that the red snapper must belong to the chrysophrys, like the golden sea bream, and not to the pagrus.

In addition, although the red snapper and the golden snapper belong to the same chrysophrys, there is a distinct molecular identification key that distinguishes the species, so it was also revealed that each is a different species (major/auratus).

Kim Jin-Koo, advisory professor, said, "The classification system based on morphology in the past is rapidly being reorganized into a classification system based on molecules. I expect that the research results on the change in the genus name of red sea bream revealed this time will serve as a meaningful opportunity to reinterpret the domestic marine fish classification system in the future." <Pukyong Today>