The Chinese four-eyed sleeper consists of two phylogeographic lineages that originated in the East and South China Seas.
The vicariance of these two lineages is attributable to the mid-Pleistocene glacial exposure of the Taiwan Strait.
The distributions of the two lineages currently overlap as a region of secondary contact in the East China Sea.
This secondary contact is due to later inter-glacial re-flooding of and biased northward migration across the Taiwan Strait.