V. N. Dolganov, O. Z. Badaev - Origin and Dispersal of Righteye Flounders of the Subfamily Hippoglossoidinae (Pleuronectiformes: Pleuronectidae)

BIOLOGIYA MORYA, 2025, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 50-60

Origin and Dispersal of Righteye Flounders of the Subfamily Hippoglossoidinae (Pleuronectiformes: Pleuronectidae)

¹A.V. Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok 690041, Russia;
²Pacific Branch, Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (TINRO), Vladivostok 690091, Russia

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Migrations and dispersal, as well as the conditions and sequence of speciation, in righteye flounders of the subfamily Hippoglossoidinae are analyzed using the method of historical biogeography. It is shown that the morpho-ecological evolution of the group was towards adaptation to progressive climate cooling and that a species divergence occurred during the isolation of the Arctic Basin and the Sea of Japan in the Plio-Pleistocene. As a result of the analysis of the origin and dispersal of righteye flounders, the validity of the species Hippoglossoides robustus and H. herzensteini, as well as the division of the genus Hippoglossoides into the subgenera Hippoglossoides and Cleisthenes, is recognized.

Key words: righteye flounders, evolutionary trend, species development, Hippoglossoides robustus and H. herzensteini validity, structure of the genus Hippoglossoides.