Genetic differentiation of non-native populations of Gibel Carp, Carassius gibelio in Western Turkey by ISSR and SRAP markers

Abstract

Freshwater fish are one of the most frequently translocated and introduced aquatic animal groups and exhibit higher establishment ratios than many other taxa. Introductions are usually irreversible. One of common non-native fish species in Turkey is the Gibel Carp, Carassius gibelio which was introduced in the 1980s and is now widespread. We tested dominant markers (ISSR and SRAP) for genetic characterisation of Gibel Carp samples collected from eight locations in western Turkey. ISSR and SRAP marker sets showed that the level of gene flow between these populations (N_m = 0.45 / N_m = 0.47) is low and that the level of genetic differentiation (G_ST = 0.53 / G_ST = 0.52) is high. Inter-population variation detected by ISSR and SRAP markers constituted half part of the population (46.88 / 50.00%), while the rest was at intra-population level. These results indicate that the present population of the Gibel Carp is the result of several colonization events originating from the different sources. The phylogenetic relationship among the populations suggest that there were two independent major introduction events, one in the Marmara Region and the other in southern Turkey.

Keywords:

• Intra-population variation
• non-native fish
• molecular markers
• genetic diversity

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Ersin Doğaç and Abuzer Güler for facilitating genetic laboratory of Faculty of Science, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Turkey and for helping in the molecular analyses.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Research Fund of Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University (Project No: 14/055).