International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol.15, No.3, 130-143 http://www.aquapublisher.com/index.php/ijms 131 sequencing combined with high-throughput analysis technology is becoming the main tool for revealing the evolutionary relationship between species (Machado et al., 2022). In actual production, Spanish mackerel also has significant fishery and aquaculture value. For example, Japanese Spanish mackerel (S. niphonius) is an important fishing target along the coasts of China, Japan, and South Korea. In the past, the annual production could reach hundreds of thousands of tons, which is an important economic support for offshore fisheries. However, with the overexploitation of resources and the intensification of environmental pollution, the number of wild populations has shown a downward trend, forcing countries to accelerate research and investment in artificial breeding and seed release (Lorenzen et al., 2021). At present, China has listed Spanish mackerel as a key target for reproduction and release, and widely promoted seedling and reproduction technology in the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and other regions (Sun et al., 2022). This article aims to sort out the research progress of Spanish mackerel phylogeny, focusing on the application of whole genome data in species relationship analysis, and combined with aquaculture practices in Asia, to explore the practical significance of phylogenetic research in genetic improvement and breeding management. 2 Taxonomy and Species Diversity of Scomberomorus 2.1 Major species and distribution Mackerel fish are widely distributed in warm temperate to tropical coastal waters around the world. Various species usually live along the continental shelf and near estuaries. According to the latest classification data, the genus currently contains 18 valid species (Jeena et al., 2022). Among them, the species distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region are relatively abundant, including: Blue-spotted Spanish mackerel (S. niphonius), mainly found in the East China Sea, Yellow Sea and the coast of Japan in the northwest Pacific; Indo-Pacific sharp-toothed Spanish mackerel (also known as narrow-banded Spanish mackerel, S. commerson), widely distributed in the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific, is the most widely distributed species in the genus; Indo-Pacific Spanish mackerel (S. guttatus), found in the coastal waters of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean; Multi-lined Spanish mackerel (S. plurilineatus), distributed in East Africa and the western Indian Ocean, etc. In the Asia-Pacific region, there are also Korean Spanish mackerel (S. koreanus) distributed in the Korean Peninsula and surrounding waters, Queensland Spanish mackerel (S. queenslandicus) found in the northern waters of Australia, etc. There are also several species of Spanish mackerel in the Atlantic and along the coasts of the Americas, such as the Spanish mackerel (S. maculatus) in the western Atlantic and the Pacific mackerel (S. sierra) in the eastern Pacific, which are usually classified as "New World populations" and are morphologically and genetically different from the Old World populations (Jeena et al., 2022). As one of the important representatives of the genus Scolopendra, the Indo-Pacific Spanish mackerel has typical characteristics including: a slender, spindle-shaped body, a deeply forked caudal fin, and a silvery-white body with light-colored vertical stripes (Figure 1). These characteristics have a certain reference value for species identification. S. guttatus is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific region and is an important economic species in the regional fishery (Gao et al., 2024). Although most mackerels live in shallow offshore waters, their migration activities are somewhat limited, and most species have a limited distribution range and do not migrate long distances across oceans. This is in stark contrast to the tuna family of the same family - tuna often migrate across oceans, while mackerels tend to migrate in coastal waters. The only exception is the narrow-banded mackerel (S. commerson), which is distributed across the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific and is considered a highly migratory and widespread species. The geographic distribution and habitat range of each species determine its population structure to a certain extent (Yang et al., 2022). For example, Spanish mackerel populations living in semi-enclosed waters (such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Persian Gulf) may form independent evolutionary units due to geographical isolation. Spanish mackerels usually reproduce in waters with water temperatures above 20 °C and are sensitive to changes in water temperature. Take the Japanese Spanish mackerel as an example. Every spring, as the water temperature rises, they migrate from the East China Sea to the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea to spawn, and then go south in autumn to
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