Of the five nominal species in the genus Caranx Lacepède 1801 distributed throughout the Eastern Central Pacific, Caranx caballus and Caranx sexfasciatus are the only two that have formal fish larval descriptions based on diagnostic characteristics (morphology, meristics and pigmentation). In this study, the diagnostic characteristics of three Caranx species larvae were validated using DNA barcoding analysis cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI; 651 bp). For the first time, the morphological taxonomic assignation of C. caballus fish larvae was confirmed using COI gene partial sequences of adults, with a genetic similarity between 99.8–100%. However, molecular evidence demonstrated that fish larvae previously described as C. sexfasciatus had high genetic similarity (99.7–100%) and low genetic distance (<1%) to Caranx caninus adults. An undescribed larval morphotype collected in the present study genetically matched (100%) with COI sequences of C. sexfasciatus adults. The diagnostic characteristics of this new morphotype were a lack of pigmentation in the supraoccipital crest, over the gut, and at the terminal region of the gut. The combination of diagnostic characteristics and DNA barcoding evidence allowed the discrimination and validation of C. caballus, C. caninus and C. sexfasciatus larvae. The diagnostic characteristics and COI sequences of Caranx lugubris and Caranx melampygus larvae, which are also distributed in the Eastern Central Pacific, remain to be investigated.

中文翻译：

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Caranx spp的DNA条形码和分类验证。幼虫

在该属的五个名义物种中卡兰克斯Lacepède 1801 分布于东中太平洋，苋菜和Caranx sexfasciatus是仅有的两个根据诊断特征（形态学、分型和色素沉着）对鱼幼虫进行正式描述。在本研究中，三种诊断特征卡兰克斯使用 DNA 条形码分析细胞色素对物种幼虫进行验证C氧化酶亚基 I (COI; 651 bp)。第一次，形态分类学分配C. caballus使用成鱼的COI基因部分序列确认了鱼幼虫，其遗传相似性在99.8-100％之间。然而，分子证据表明，以前描述的鱼幼虫为C. sexfasciatus具有高遗传相似性（99.7-100%）和低遗传距离（<1%）Caranx caninus成年人。本研究中收集的一种未描述的幼虫形态型与C. sexfasciatus成年人。这种新形态的诊断特征是枕上嵴、肠道上方和肠道末端区域缺乏色素沉着。诊断特征和 DNA 条形码证据的结合允许区分和验证C. caballus,C. caninus和C. sexfasciatus幼虫。诊断特征和COI序列苋菜和苋菜也分布在东中太平洋的幼虫仍有待调查。