The taxonomic status of Hemiramphus Cuvier, 1816 species along the Indian coast has been subject to frequent misidentified, complicating ecological and fisheries research. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the morphometric, meristic, and molecular characteristics of Hemiramphus far (Fabricius, 1775), H. lutkei Valenciennes, 1847, and H. archipelagicus Collette and Parin (Proc Biol Soc Wash 91(3), 731–747, 1978) to clarify their identification. Morphological analyses were conducted based on key diagnostic features, including eye shape, nostril position, body markings, beak length, pectoral fin length, body depth, vertebrae, and otolith shape. Additionally, molecular data from the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) and Small subunit of 16 S Ribosomal Ribonucleic acid (16SrRNA) genes were analysed using maximum likelihood phylogenetic methods to assess genetic divergence and species relationships. A key finding of this work corrects widespread systematic errors in public databases: phylogenetic analysis reveals that GenBank sequences belonging to H. archipelagicus were previously misidentified and deposited as H. far. Furthermore, sequences labelled as the Atlantic species H. balao and H. brasiliensis clustered unequivocally with H. lutkei. Our findings clarify the taxonomy of Hemiramphus species in Indian waters, enhancing accuracy in species identification. This study provides a reliable identification key, detailed descriptions, and reference DNA barcodes for fisheries management, biodiversity conservation, and future ecological research.
