Abstract

1. Samples of the mussel, Mytilus edulis, were taken from 16 sites on the northern shore of Cape Cod. The mussels were measured and their genotypes at the leucine-amino-peptidase (LAP) locus determined by electrophoresis.2. At two separate estuarine localities, Sandwich Harbor and Scorton Creek, a pronounced cline in slow allele frequencies in the larger mussels was found, with upstream sites showing characteristically low frequencies (about 15%) and downstream (entrance) sites having high frequencies (45% to 55%). Mussels smaller than 26 mm had intermediate (22% to 35%) slow frequencies.3. This clinal divergence with increasing size strongly argues for an adaptive polymorphism. Mechanisms for the observed excess of homozygote genotypes in almost all samples are also discussed.

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