V. V. Gorbachev, L. L. Solovenchuk, L. A. Chernoivanova - Intraspecies structure of the Pacific herring Clupea pallasii Valenciennes, 1847 (Clupeidae: Clupeiformes) in the Sea of Japan and the southern Sea of Okhotsk, inferred from the variability of mitochondrial DNA control region

BIOLOGIYA MORYA, 2011, Vol. 37, No. 6, pp. 472-476

Intraspecies structure of the Pacific herring Clupea pallasii Valenciennes, 1847 (Clupeidae: Clupeiformes) in the Sea of Japan and the southern Sea of Okhotsk, inferred from the variability of mitochondrial DNA control region

¹Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Magadan 685000;
²Pacific Fisheries Research Center, Vladivostok 690091

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The differentiation of local herring populations from the Sea of Japan and the southern Sea of Okhotsk was assessed on the basis of mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) control region variability. Three samplings of sea herring and one sampling of lake herring were studied. The genetic analysis showed a significant (P < 0.01) difference between lake and sea herring samplings and no differentiation among sea samplings (P > 0.05). The AMOVA revealed that only 4.11% of the variability was attributed to the interpopulation component, while variability within populations was 95.89%. It is suggested that the reason for the weak differentiation of local sea herring populations may be an intensive gene flow.

Key words: Pacific herring, intraspecies structure, mitochondrial DNA, gene flow.