Abstract
A lack of genetic differentiation between Red Sea and Mediterranean populations of the Lessepsian rabbitfish, Siganus rivulatus, was evidenced using mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome b). This result implies that Mediterranean populations were not founded by a few individuals, but rather that immigration of S. rivulatus into the Mediterranean is a continuous process.
Highlights
Many fish species from the Red Sea are known to have established populations in the Mediterranean following the opening of the Suez Canal (Golani, 1996)
Sation is the result of a few pioneer individuals, or whether the influx of migrants has been a steady process. We address this question by testing mitochondrial DNA variability on one siganid species, Siganus rivulatus (Forsskål, 1775) sampled in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean
Siganus rivulatus is one of the first Lessepsian migrants to be found in the Mediterranean, having been first recorded in the 1920s (Steinitz, 1929)
Summary
Many fish species from the Red Sea are known to have established populations in the Mediterranean following the opening of the Suez Canal (Golani, 1996). One question which arises with these socalled Lessepsian species is whether they have undergone some demographic bottleneck, if coloni*Received July 9, 2002. Sation is the result of a few pioneer individuals, or whether the influx of migrants has been a steady process. We address this question by testing mitochondrial DNA variability on one siganid species (rabbitfish), Siganus rivulatus (Forsskål, 1775) sampled in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Siganus rivulatus is one of the first Lessepsian migrants to be found in the Mediterranean, having been first recorded in the 1920s (Steinitz, 1929).
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