A correction to: biological and oceanographic insights from larval labrid (Pisces: Labridae) identi®cation using mtDNA sequences

Previously published mtDNA cytochrome b sequences for Xyrichtys novacula (Linnaeus) and two morphologically distinct types of Xyrichtys larvae (Pisces: Labridae) included human cytochrome b sequence, presumably due to sample contamination and/or poor preservation of sample DNA. Those sequences had been used to identify the two types of Xyrichtys larvae as X. novacula, but owing to the contamination, the identi®cations are invalid. Fresh specimens were collected: X. martinicensis (Cuvier and Valenciennes), X. novacula, X. splendens (Castelnau), and Xyrichtys sp. larvae of each of the two morphotypes (dorsal-forward eye and ventral-forward eye). The cytochrome b fragment was ampli®ed from each specimen using the polymerase chain reaction. Comparison of the sequences with human cytochrome b sequence con®rmed that the new sequences were not contaminated. The interspeci®c differences in Xyrichtys sequences were less than previously reported, but still greater than observed in many ®sh genera. Distance and parsimony analyses indicated that X. novacula and X. martinicensis were more closely related to each other than to X. splendens. This conclusion di€ers from our previous conclusion that X. martinicensis and X. splendens were more closely related to each other than to X. novacula. Distance and parsimony analyses also demonstrated that both larval morphotypes were X. novacula and, thus, our previous conclusions regarding larval ecology and oceanographic transport remain unchanged.