BIOCHEMICAL-GENETIC EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE TAXONOMIC SEPARATION OF LOLIGO-EDULIS AND LOLIGO-CHINENSIS (CEPHALOPODA, TEUTHOIDEA) FROM THE GENUS LOLIGO

Confusion abounds regarding the relative generic status of many member species of the squid family Loliginidae. A taxonomic reorganisation w ithin the family has been proposed in which Loligo species from the In do-Pacific possessing photophores on the ink sac, including Logligo ed ulis and Loligo chinensis, are removed to the newly created genus Phot ololigo. This system of classification has not however gained general acceptance, and some authors have continued to refer to these species as Loligo. Here biochemical genetic data gathered using allozyme elect rophoresis are presented supporting the assertion that L. edulis and L . chinensis should indeed be positioned in a genus distinct from that characterised by the type species Loligo vulgaris vulgaris. Cluster an alysis of allele frequency data from 22 putative enzyme-coding loci su ggests that L. edulis and L. chinensis are as genetically distant from L. vulgaris vulgaris as are members of the confamilial genera Alloteu this, Uroteuthis and Sepioteuthis, and as such warrant separate generi c status. We conclude that the genus Photololigo is valid.