Discrimination of the North Atlantic lesser sandeels Ammodytes marinus, A. tobianus, A. dubius and Gymnammodytes semisquamatus by mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment patterns

Abstract

Discrimination of species of Atlantic sandeels (genus Ammodytes) using morphological characters can be problematic, particularly for juveniles and small adults. To identify genetic markers, four species of sandeel, Ammodytes marinus Raitt, A. tobianus L., A. dubius Reinhardt and Gymnammodytes semisquamatus Jourdain, were screened for diagnostic variation in the PCR-amplified ND-1 region of the mitochondrial genome. Seven restriction endonucleases were used: AluI, AvaI, CfoI, DraI, HaeIII, HinfI and MvaI. Alu, and HaeIII produced a unique range of fragment patterns in each species. In addition, CfoI distinguished the three Northeast Atlantic species, while AvaI distinguished Ammodytes from Gymnammodytes. These mitochondrial species markers have advantages over previously described protein markers as, in addition to being fast and technically simple, results can be obtained from small amounts of frozen or alcohol-preserved tissue. Thus, the described markers provide useful discriminators for fisheries assessments and ecological studies.