Octocorals are an important component contributing to habitat forming that enhances the three-dimensional structural complexity and facilitates benthic–pelagic coupling for marine benthic ecosystems. Studies on octocorals in marginal environments could provide insight to researchers and conservationists in the face of the deteriorating seascape under the Anthropocene. The octocoral communities in Hong Kong persist under margin...

The acquisition of microbial symbionts enables animals to rapidly adapt to and exploit novel ecological niches, thus significantly enhancing the evolutionary fitness and success of their hosts. However, the dynamics of host–microbe interactions and their evolutionary implications remain largely underexplored in marine invertebrates. Crabs of the family Sesarmidae (Crustacea: Brachyura) are dominant inhabitants of mangrove fore...

Since their discovery, the systematic placement of two shrimp taxa, Amphionides and Procarididae, has been controversial. Both exhibit primitive features yet also possessing caridean traits. Amphionides was initially classified as a monotypic genus in the order Amphionidacea, while Procarididae was the only family in the superfamily Procaridoidea. Recent molecular studies have presented evidence that Amphionides is a larval fo...

Horseshoe crabs provide important ecological services including bioturbation and linking of food web in the shallow waters, but their populations are declining globally, leading to major concerns on conservation of these iconic animals. Baseline information of horseshoe crab ecology, such as their trophic role and food source, is pre-requisite for habitat protection plan and captive restocking program. Trophic ecology of Asian...

Aim The high species richness of the Indo‐Australian Archipelago ( IAA ) marine biodiversity hotspot has been attributed to three competing hypotheses: Centre of Origin/Centre of Overlap/Centre of Accumulation. While most phylogeographic studies testing these hypotheses have focused on marine fishes, we provide a new perspective on this evolutionary important question by examining the population genetics of the horned ghost cr...

The acorn barnacles (Cirripedia, Thoracica, Balanomorpha) are a diverse group of crustaceans found in virtually all marine and estuarine habitats. Barnacles are important model species in various biological researches, including evolution, intertidal ecology, larval biology and antifouling. However, there remains a lack of a thorough understanding of the phylogeny for this group of animals, particularly at higher taxonomic lev...

This study examined the phylogeography of the barnacle Fistulobalanus albicostatus , which inhabits mangroves and estuarine shores in the West Pacific. Differentiation in the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I ( COI ) and 12S ribosomal RNA ( 12S ) genes of 401 specimens of F. albicostatus was examined in samples from 16 locations in the West Pacific, ranging from Honshu to Southern China. Our results revealed that F....

The phylum Chaetognatha (arrow worms) comprises a group of small marine predators that constitute a critical component of the zooplankton community throughout the world's oceans. Various phylogenetic affiliations have been proposed for the Chaetognatha, for which there are at least nine possible phylogenetic positions. Resolving the phylogenetic position of the chaetognaths is a key in understanding the fundamental development...

Pleistocene glaciations were among the important historic events that shaped the population structures of marine organisms. Genetic studies of different marine fauna and flora have demonstrated the effect of Pleistocene glaciations on taxa that reside in marginal seas. However, how marine island species responded to Pleistocene glaciations remains relatively unstudied, especially in Asia. Genetic analyses based on the island‐a...

The Hippolytidae is the fourth largest family within the Caridea, currently containing over 330 described species in 37 genera, and the classification of this family has been rather controversial. In this study, sequences of two nuclear protein‐coding genes, enolase and sodium‐potassium ATPase α ‐subunit, and the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene (totalling 1405 bp) from 29 hippolytid species in 20 genera plus 17 species from eight...

Aim Phylogeographical patterns of marine organisms in the north‐western Pacific are shaped by the interaction of past sea‐level fluctuations during glacial maxima and present‐day gene flow. This study examines whether observed population differentiation in the barnacle Chthamalus challengeri , which is endemic to the north‐western Pacific, can be explained by the interactions between historical glacial events and patterns of c...

Speciation by host shift is a common phenomenon observed in many symbiotic animals. The symbiont–host interaction is highly dynamic, but it is poorly documented in the marine realm. In the present study, we examined the genetic and morphological differentiation of the coral barnacle Wanella milleporae (obligate to fire corals) collected from four different Millepora host species in Taiwan to investigate the host specificity of...

Two acorn barnacles, Tetraclita japonica japonica and Tetraclita japonica formosana , have been recently reclassified as two subspecies, because they are morphologically similar and genetically indistinguishable in mitochondrial DNA sequences. The two barnacles are distinguishable by parietes colour and exhibit parapatric distributions, coexisting in Japan, where T. j. formosana is very low in abundance. Here we investigated t...