Species identification of two sympatric hakes by allozymic markers

M I Roldán,C Pla

doi:10.3989/scimar.2001.65n181

Abstract

Samples were collected from hake species Merluccius australis and M. hubbsi in the south west Atlantic Ocean. Enzyme electrophoretic analysis of the eye, liver and muscle revealed 5 out of 33 genetic loci with species-specific allelic frequencies. These five loci provide a set of genetic markers for individual classification.

Highlights

The morphological similarities among species and the uncertainty of phylogenetic relationships suggest the application of molecular techniques.These methods have provided critical insights towards resolving similar problems in teleost taxa.Allozyme electrophoresis has been a widely applied molecular method for comparing levels of genetic divergence between populations and between taxa (e.g. Grant et al, 1999)
Lapping distributions in the austral zone of the Argentinean Sea, with intense commercial harvesting throughout the ranges of both species (Fig. 1). Immature fish of these species are difficult to distinguish by simple observation, and a portion of catches reported as Argentinean hake are believed to be Southern hake (FAO, 1997)
Data presented in this work provide a tool for resolving the identification of catches reported from the south-west Atlantic fishery

Summary

Introduction

The morphological similarities among species and the uncertainty of phylogenetic relationships suggest the application of molecular techniques. Allozyme electrophoresis has been a widely applied molecular method for comparing levels of genetic divergence between populations and between taxa (e.g. Grant et al, 1999). Allozyme differences are useful for inexpensive and uncomplicated species identification using isolated tissues (e.g. fish fillets), or intact individuals of morphologically indistinct taxa (Utter et al, 1974; Shaklee et al, 1982). Two southwestern Atlantic hakes, M. australis (Southern hake) and M. hubbsi (Argentinean hake), have over*Received April 18, 2000.

Results

Conclusion