The genus Takifugu comprises approximately 25 species that are closely related due to fairly recent speciation in the northwestern Pacific. The variety of coloration patterns within Takifugu has led to taxonomic confusion. A recent study treated Takifugu niphobles (Jordan and Snyder, 1901) as a junior synonym of Takifugu alboplumbeus (Richardson, 1845) based on morphological comparison of the type specimens. In an attempt to review the taxonomic status of grass puffer at a molecular level, 209 individuals from nine localities in the northwestern Pacific (two localities in the East Sea, five in the Korea Strait, and two in the Yellow Sea) were analyzed using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and microsatellites. The mtDNA sequence analyses showed two distinct lineages (Kimura-two-parameter distance = 1.5–2.6% and 2.2–3.6% in cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and cytochrome b, respectively). The distributions of the two lineages tended to be separated; lineage 1 was located in the East Sea and lineage 2 in the Yellow Sea, but both lineages in the Korea Strait. STRUCTURE analyses using 13 microsatellite markers showed two distinct groups, which was consistent with the two subdivisions in mtDNA, except for the western Korea Strait. Our findings suggest that T. niphobles is a distinct species differing from T. alboplumbeus, unlike previous study. This requires further careful taxonomic revision.

中文翻译：

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通过线粒体DNA序列和微卫星基因座揭示西北太平洋草河豚（Tetraodontiformes：Tetraodontidae）的种群遗传结构

由于西北太平洋地区最近的物种形成，塔基富古属包括大约25个密切相关的物种。塔基富古（Takifugu）内各种颜色的图案导致了分类学上的混乱。一项最近的研究将aki（Takifugu）嗜盐菌（Jordan and Snyder，1901）作为as（Takifugu alboplumbeus）的初级同义词。（Richardson，1845）基于类型标本的形态比较。为了从分子水平上研究河豚的分类状况，使用线粒体分析了西北太平洋九个地区（东海的两个地区，朝鲜海峡的五个地区和黄海的两个地区）的209个人。 DNA（mtDNA）和微卫星。mtDNA序列分析显示出两个不同的谱系（细胞色素c氧化酶亚基I和细胞色素b的Kimura两参数距离分别为1.5–2.6％和2.2–3.6％）。两个谱系的分布趋于分离。血统1位于东海，血统2位于黄海，但两个血统都位于朝鲜海峡。使用13个微卫星标记进行的结构分析显示了两个不同的组，这与mtDNA的两个细分区域一致，除了朝鲜西部海峡。我们的发现表明与以前的研究不同，尼古丁球菌是不同于白球藻的独特物种。这需要进一步仔细的分类修订。