DNA barcoding of deep-sea shrimp Sicyonia parajaponica Crosnier, 2003 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Sicyoniidae) from southwest coast of India

The present work reports detailed taxonomic information on deep-sea shrimp Sicyonia parajaponica from southwest Indian waters. The samples were caught in bottom trawls conducted between the depths of 200 and 230 m from Sakthikulangara fishing harbour off Kollam, Kerala along the Arabian Sea during November 2019. DNA barcoding and a phylogenetic analysis was used to explore the relationship of the genus Sicyonia based on mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI: MN816389, MN816390) with the present specimen and sequences retrieved from NCBI GenBank. There is no difference in the intraspecies genetic distance (0%) while interspecies genetic distance (19.0-28.1%) revealed divergence between the species (COI) of the genus Sicyonia. Sicyonia is a genus of prawns, placed in its own family, Sicyoniidae, commonly known as rock shrimps. These are benthic feeders which are widely distributed in Indo-West Pacific, Atlantic Oceans and Mediterranean Sea. Overall 52 species under the genus Sicyonia obtained globally (De Grave and Fransen, 2011; Crosnier, 2003). The species Sicyonia adunca Crosnier, 2003 and Sicyonia laevis Bate, 1881 were recorded earlier from Japan (Komai, 2011) and Sicyonia carinata (Brunnich, 1768) from Turkish waters (Bilgin et al., 2014). Crosnier (2003) divided the Indo-West