To understand the functional meaning of morphological traits in the exploitation of natural resources, it is necessary to develop a quantitative, meaningful scheme for understanding ecophenotypes; this will facilitate management and conservation, which are the most pressing challenges in vulnerable aquatic environments. In this context, the management of cryptic and very similar species is more challenging, because of the diff...

To evaluate the specific validity of the Caspian pipefish Syngnathus caspius , we used a comparative molecular species delimitation method on a COI barcode library of Syngnathus , as well as principles of genealogical concordance. Comparative species delimitation allowed us to delineate putative species without a priori assignment of individuals to nominal species, while genealogical concordance extended our species delimitati...