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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.09.17.752292

One species or several? Genomic evidence for deep divergence within the widely distributed anemonefish Amphiprion clarkii species complex

Zwahlen, J.·Marcionetti, A.·Mercader, M.·Miura, S.·Leiva, C.·Reimer, J. D.·Salamin, N.·Laudet, V.
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Abstract

Defining what a species is remains one of the biggest questions in biology and directly challenges species delimitation in species complexes. The wide-spread Clarks' anemonefish Amphiprion clarkii has the widest range of all anemonefishes, from the Indian Ocean to the Central Pacific. However, the taxonomy of this species has been confused since its initial description due to its great variation in morphology and pigmentation even within the same locality. Here, we combined whole genome re-sequencing data from 166 individuals spanning most of the distribution of A. clarkii, including remote islands such as Ogasawara and Guam in the northwestern Pacific, and also including three individuals of the closely related A. tricinctus from the Marshall Islands. Our population genomic analyses reveal an unexpected level of divergence, with five deeply separated lineages corresponding to the Indian Ocean, Central Indo-Pacific, Melanesia, and the isolated population of Ogasawara. The fifth lineage comprises A. clarkii from Guam and A. tricinctus, revealing that A. tricinctus is phylogenetically nested within A. clarkii, challenging its current taxonomic status. The most divergent lineage, Melanesia, is genetically more distant from other A. clarkii lineages than several recognised species pairs within the Amphiprion genus, yet demographic modelling shows ongoing gene flow between all lineages. Together, our results highlight a hidden diversity and stress the necessity of an integrative taxonomic revision of the A. clarkii species complex.

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Zwahlen, J., Marcionetti, A., Mercader, M., Miura, S., Leiva, C., Reimer, J. D., Salamin, N., Laudet, V.. 2026-09-18. One species or several? Genomic evidence for deep divergence within the widely distributed anemonefish Amphiprion clarkii species complex. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.17.752292

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