ABSTRACT
In this study, five new mitogenomes from four endemic Lake Baikal sculpins were determined: Cottocomephorus grewingkii (Dybowski, 1874) (GB#MW732165), Cottocomephorus inermis (Yakovlev, 1890) (GB#MW732163), and Paracottus knerii (Dybowski, 1874) (GB#MW732164) (Family Cottocomephoridae - Bighead sculpins), and from two specimens of Procottus major Taliev, 1949 (GB##MW732166, MW732167) from Family Abyssocottidae (Deep-water sculpins). Together with recently published mitogenomes of Baikal Oilfishes (Sandel et al. 2017), the first mitogenome-based phylogenetic tree for all three endemic Baikal sculpin families is presented. Complete mitogenome phylogeny supports the monophyletic origin of the lake Baikal sculpins species flock, but does not support the monophyly of the family Cottocomephoridae (Bighead sculpins).
