Phylogeography of 3 North Atlantic Wolffish species (Anarhichas spp.) with Phylogenetic Relationships within the Family Anarhichadidae

Abstract

Phylogenetic analyses of all 4 wolffish species (Atlantic, Spotted, Northern, and Bering wolffishes) and the Wolfeel were assessed with both mitochondrial (D-loop and ND1) and nuclear (amplified fragment length polymorphism) DNA to resolve relationships within the family Anarhichadidae. Species-specific mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutation rates were estimated based on 2 possible dates of divergence between the Pacific and Atlantic lineages. Phylogeographic patterns within each of the 3 North Atlantic wolffishes were investigated with Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations based on mtDNA to determine whether population size changes occurred following the last glaciation and where wolffishes likely survived glaciation. All 3 species of North Atlantic wolffishes showed evidence of postglacial expansion but did not show evidence of persistence in multiple refugia in both the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean. Rather, the data supported persistence in a single refuge, with postglacial expansion into the rest of the range. Nucleotide diversity, in particular, was low in wolffishes compared with other marine fishes, possibly related to reductions in population sizes during the last glaciation.