Genetic divergence within Pristolepis specimens in the Kabini River

Mitochondrial COI sequence divergence between 11 specimens (alignment length: 597 bp) collected from various localities in the Kabini, including the type locality of Pristolepis marginata (Mananthavady) and P. pentacantha (Bavali) were in the ranges of 0–0.5% (uncorrected p-distance). This included specimens matching the description of both P. marginata (D XV 12; P 15; V I 5; A IV 8; Jerdon 1849) and P. pentacantha (D XV–XVI 11; P 14; V I 5; A V 7; Plamoottil (A)), and showing the key diagnostic character of four or five anal-fin spines. Additionally, haplotype network analysis revealed the presence of two haplotypes (Fig. 3) – one of the haplotypes observed in a single individual of the five-spined Pristolepis (which we identified as P. pentacantha), and the second haplotype in the remaining 10 individuals (two individuals of five-spined, and eight individuals of four-spined Pristolepis). Three mutational steps separated these two haplotypes which translates into a genetic distance (uncorrected p-distance) of 0.5% (Fig. 3).