Ring Finger Protein 213 (RNF213)

RNF213 is a nuclear gene suitable for investigating large scale acanthomorph teleosteans interrelationships. The gene recovers many clades already found by several independent studies of acanthomorph molecular phylogenetics and considered as reliable. This index was improved here to handle the incomplete taxonomic overlap among datasets. The results lead to the identification of new reliable clades within the ‘acanthomorph bush’. Within a clade containing the Atherinomorpha, the Mugiloidei, the Plesiopidae, the Blennioidei, the Gobiesocoidei, the Cichlidae and the Pomacentridae, the Plesiopidae is the sister-group of the Mugiloidei. The Apogonidae are closely related to the Gobioidei. A clade named ‘H’ grouping a number of families close to stromateids and scombrids is related to another clade named ‘E’.