Taxonomic study of Bathygadidae fishes (Gadiformes) from Atlantic Spanish waters combining morphological and molecular approaches.

From 2009 to 2011 eleven specimens belonging to four bathygadid species of the family Bathygadidae were captured in two different locations in the northern waters of Spain. The morphometric measurements and meristic characters of these specimens are given. The specimens were identified as belonging to the genera Gadomus Regan, 1903, and Bathygadus Günther, 1878, including the following species: Gadomus dispar (Vaillant, 1888), Gadomus longifilis (Goode & Bean, 1885), Gadomus arcuatus (Goode & Bean, 1886) and Bathygadus melanobranchus Vaillant, 1888. As a result, a new northern limit of distribution of G. arcuatus from the northeastern Atlantic is reported. The first molecular identification and genetic interrelationships of Bathygadidae species, based on the mitochondrial COI nucleotide sequences -DNA barcodes- is reported. Sequences corresponding to specimens from the same species were identical and the overall mean genetic diversity (uncorrected p-distance) was 0.096 ± 0.008. Based on a morphological and meristic examination of the specimens, as well as on the available literature, an updated key of the members of the family Bathygadidae from the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean is provided.