Molecular Phylogenetic Correlation Among Cichlid Fishes (Teleostei: Cichlidae) Based on 18S rRNA Gene Sequencing Analysis

Cichlid fish phylogeny is presented for the most taxonomical approaches. In this study, the phylogeny of cichlid fish correlation was carried out by various analysis based on 18S rRNA gene sequences from GenBank database for 31 species belonging to 13 genera of Cichlid fish (Teleostei: Cichlidae). The alignment of 18S rRNA gene sequences as well as the neighbour-joining tree, distance matrix and phylogenetic tree obtained by using bioinformatics programs. Alignment of 18S rRNA gene sequences, distance matrix and phylogenetic tree results revealed that the majority of species within the same genus were closely related to each other (monophylogenetic) while, some species were polyphylogenetic within the genus showing a close relationship with other genera species. On the other hand, a neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree without a distance correction among cichlid species revealed a variation in phylogenetic relationship between species where most species within the same genus were polyphylogenetic to each other and monophylogenetic to other genera species.