Population genetic analysis of the haemoglobins of the black‐chinned tilapia

Abstract

Three highly heterogeneous haemoglobin phenotypes, each composed of 22 different haemoglobin components, were identified among 17 West African populations of Sarotherodon melanotheron. Natural populations from (1) Senegal, (2) Ivory Coast/Ghana/Togo/Benin, and (3) Congo were distinguished. The heterogeneity and specificity of these respiratory pigments was based on genetic variations at the globin chain coding loci. In total, five different -chains and four different -chains were detected by acidic urea polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Combinations of -chains were characteristic for populations in (1) Senegal, (2) Ivory Coast, (3) Ghana/Togo/Benin, and (4) Congo. Pronounced variations at the -globin chain cluster were found by acidic urea triton PAGE. Cladistic analyses of the globin chain characteristics confirmed the validity of the following taxonomic units previously ranked as sub-species: (1) populations from Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin belong to the sub-species S. m. melanotheron; (2) populations from Senegal form genetically a separate cluster representing the sub-species S. m. heudelotii; (3) the Congo population, morphologically considered to represent the sub-species S. m. nigripinnis, forms another distinct unit; but there was no evidence of S. m. paludinosus within the samples from Senegal. 1999 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles

Cichlids of the Banc d'Arguin National Park, Mauritania: insight into the diversity of the genus Coptodon

“…In the past, genetic investigations of S . melanotheron demonstrated that this nominal species consisted of at least two species (and three sub‐species) over its distribution from Congo to Mauritania (Falk et al , , ).…”