Page 180 - 《水产学报》2026年第04期

刘洋豪，等：基于形态和 DNA 条形码相结合的大量鱼卵群落分析方法及其在琼东海草床-珊瑚礁
4 期 50 卷
景观中的应用

A combined morphological and DNA barcoding approach for

large-scale analysis of fish egg communities and its application in
the seagrass bed-coral reef seascapes of eastern Hainan

2,3
1,2
1,2
2,3
LIU Yanghao , MIAO Zhongbo , LU Ying , ZHANG Lu ,
1,2*
XIA Wentong , XIE Songguang 1,2,4*
(1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Hydrobiology and Biotechnology of Hainan Province,
School of Marine Biology and Fisheries, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China;
2. State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China;
3. School of Ecology, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China;
4. Wenchang Advanced Fisheries Research Institute, Hainan University, Wenchang 571300, China)

Abstract: This study analyzed the species composition and community structure of fish eggs in a specific seagrass bed–coral
reef habitat in eastern Hainan, and evaluated its function as a spawning ground, providing valuable information for fisheries
resource management and conservation. Fish eggs were identified using an integrative approach combining DNA barcoding and
morphology. A workflow for determining species composition and abundance in large egg-sample datasets based on morpholo-
gical–molecular integration was established: ① fish eggs were assigned to distinct morphological groups and additional sub-
groups according to typical morphological characteristics and subtle differences; ② each morphological group/subgroup was
counted and subsampled, and each subsampled egg was photographed to record morphological traits and then molecularly
sequenced to determine species identity. Species composition and abundance of the community were determined by integrating
the above results. A total of 96 fish-egg samples (86 596 eggs) were collected from the nearshore seagrass bed-coral reef sea-
scape off Wenchang, Hainan, during April–May 2024, and 20 morphological groups were delineated. COI sequences were suc-
cessfully obtained from 1 208 eggs, identifying 66 species belonging to 8 orders, 29 families and 45 genera. Perciformes had
the highest species richness (30 species, 45.5%), followed by Scorpaeniformes (13 species, 19.7%). Scorpaenidae contained the
most species (11 species, 16.7%), followed by Labridae (8 species, 12.1%). The correspondence between morphological groups
and taxonomic groups was further established. These results confirm the seagrass bed–coral reef seascape as an important
spawning habitat for these fishes. This study provides a practical and scalable framework for community-level analyses of large
fish-egg datasets, offering a robust methodological foundation for fisheries resource assessment and marine ecological conser-
vation.
Key words: fish eggs; DNA barcoding; seagrass bed-coral reef; eastern Hainan
Corresponding authors: XIA Wentong. E-mail: xiawt@hainanu.edu.cn;
XIE Songguang. E-mail: xiesg@hainanu.edu.cn
Funding projects: National Key Research and Development Program of China (2024YFD 2401801); National Natural Science
Foundation of China (42166004, 42376114); Key Research and Development Program of Hainan Province
(ZDYF2024SHFZ070); Open Project of Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Hydrobiology Technology
(SWJS202403)

中国水产学会主办 sponsored by China Society of Fisheries https://www.china-fishery.cn
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