New record of the Crenimugil crenilabis (Forsskål, 1775) (Mugiliformes: Mugilidae) from Korea, as revealed by mitochondrial DNA barcoding

Crenimugil crenilabis (Forsskål 1775) is a fish species newly identified with molecular analysis and reported in Korea for the first time. A single specimen of C. crenilabis was collected from a tidal pool on the southern coast of Jeju Island, Korea in August 2018. This species is characterized by several rows of papillae on both lips, no notch in the mouth corner, the presence of 36 lateral-line scales, and 24 vertebrae. The present specimen is morphologically similar to another seven mugilid species reported in Korea, but mitochondrial DNA COI gene analysis revealed that it is almost identical to C. crenilabis, sharing 98.9–99.3% identity, compared with 75.9–90.3% identity with other species. It’s newly proposed Korean names are ‘Dol-gi-ip-sung-eo-sok’ for the genus and ‘Dol-gi-ip-sung-eo’ for the species.