Gene flow among population of a teleost (painted greenling, Oxylebius pictus) from Puget Sound to southern California

Abstract

Four geographic populations of the painted greenling Oxylebius pictus, a small cryptic reef fish of the western coast of North America, were examined for biochemical evidence of genetic differentiation. Painted greenlings in Puget Sound and those in central and southern California are similar by Nei's genetic identity (I=0.966 to 0.995); Fowever, other observations argue for genetic differentiation among the 4 populations. First, there are geographic differences in allelic frequencies at two loci (Est-3 and Pgm), with a geographic cline exhibited at the latter locus. Second, and most significant, two assayable loci are uniquely present in pairs of populations below Point Conception (G3pdh-3) and above Point Conception (Idh-3), respectively. Larval dispersal patterns are inferred from breeding times for the painted greenling and on patterns of currents off the western coast of North America. We believe that gene flow in this species is less across Point Conception than between Puget Sound, Washington, and Monterey, California, on the basis of these genetic data and the patterns of dispersal.