Morphological and Genetic Diversity of Two Forms of Muksun Coregonus muksun (Salmonidae) of the Khatanga River Basin as a Key for Understanding the Phylogenetic Relationships between Muksun and Whitefish C. lavaretus

E A Borovikova,Yu V Budin

doi:10.1134/s0032945220060016

E A Borovikova, Yu V Budin

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1134/s0032945220060016

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Abstract

Morphological analysis of muksun Coregonus muksun of the Khatanga River basin revealed that along with its typical high-density-rakered form, individuals of the low-density-rakered form also live in this region. Analysis of the genetic polymorphism of three marker regions of mitochondrial (ND1 and COI fragments) and nuclear (ITS1) DNA indicates the polyphyletic origin of these forms. The revealed low level of genetic differentiation of muksun and whitefish C. lavaretus, along with the available data on the absence of clear diagnostic species characteristics, suggest that they belong to the same biological species C. lavaretus.

Highlights

Muksun Coregonus muksun is a species of the subfamily Coregoninae (Salmonidae) abundant and widespread in Siberia
The morphology, ecology, and population structure of muksun as the main component of ichthyocenosis in almost all waterbodies of the North have been studied in quite good detail (Berg, 1948; Kirillov, 1972; Reshetnikov, 1980)
It is worth noting that in all published papers, muksun of the Khatanga River basin is referred to as a population represented by a single, widespread form with a large number of gill rakers

Summary

Introduction

Muksun Coregonus muksun is a species of the subfamily Coregoninae (Salmonidae) abundant and widespread in Siberia. The morphology, ecology, and population structure of muksun as the main component of ichthyocenosis in almost all waterbodies of the North have been studied in quite good detail (Berg, 1948; Kirillov, 1972; Reshetnikov, 1980). Despite the fact that muksun biology in many large waterbodies of the North and their systems is studied quite well, the data for this species from the Khatanga Bay basin are very scarce. Muksun of this region was considered only as the main object of fishing and was never the subject of a special study of the features of its morphology and ecology (Mikhin, 1941; Podlesnyi, 1947; Berg, 1948; Lukyanchikov, 1967). Rare publications are not very informative and are limited only to a description of the habitat conditions of muksun, some indicators of the structure of its populations, as well as the characteristics of fishing in the Khatanga basin (Bogdanov and Bogdanova, 1999, 2003, 2006)

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