Aquarium-trade provenance
The 2009 genetic source-assignment study tested 96 shrimp from six vendors. All 96 assigned to only three of the then-known groups
This is a historical sample of the trade, not a valid assumption about current sellers. Aquapedia must not infer a captive colony's genetic group from appearance or from a generic “Hawaiian Opae” sales label.
Why the distinction matters
A major lineage can contain multiple deeply structured genetic groups. Some names are also potentially confusing: the Kaʻu genetic group belongs to the West Hawaiʻi lineage, while the Kaʻu lineage contains the Nā‘ālehu and Waiʻōhinu groups. Aquapedia should display both fields rather than collapsing them into one label.
Likewise, color alone is insufficient for genetic assignment. South Oʻahu shrimp can be unusually pale/cream, while common-garden work shows quantitative pigmentation differences among lineages, but appearance is not a substitute for locality or DNA provenance.
2026 research watch — not yet a replacement taxonomy
A June 2026 Havird Lab update reports ongoing nuclear population-genomics work on H. rubra, specifically noting that older mitochondrial-genome signals should be revisited with nuclear genomic data. The work was presented at PEQG 2026 and was still being written up at that time.
Aquapedia status: RESEARCH IN PROGRESS / UNPUBLISHED. Keep the 15-group framework as the latest published named-group baseline until peer-reviewed nuclear-genomic results establish a revision.
Public research references
Listed research leads are not automatically supporting evidence for every individual claim.