Genetic structure of West Greenland populations of lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus

Abstract

In this study, 11 microsatellite markers were used to determine the structure of West Greenlandic lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus populations across six spawning locations spanning >1500 km and compared with neighbouring populations in Canada and Iceland. To evaluate whether data allow for identification of origin of C. lumpus in Greenlandic waters, genetic assignment analysis was performed for 86 C. lumpus sampled on a feeding migration. Significant structuring with isolation by distance was observed in the West Greenland samples and two major subpopulations, north and south, were suggested. Based on F values, closer relationships were observed between Greenland and Canada, than Greenland and Iceland. Surprisingly, the North Greenland population showed more similarities with Canadian samples, than did the geographically closer south-west Greenland population. Origin could be assigned for a high proportion of non-spawning fish and demonstrated a marked east-west spatial separation of fish of Greenlandic and Icelandic genotypes.

Historical Processes and Contemporary Anthropogenic Activities Influence Genetic Population Dynamics of Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus) within The Bahamas

“…Advances in molecular biology and population genetics have proven to be extremely valuable in generating information on population status, genetic diversity and connectivity of a variety of fish species (Carvalho and Hauser, 1998;SilvaOliveira et al, 2008;Davey et al, 2011;Adams et al, 2016;Garcia-Mayoral et al, 2016); in turn, these data have been applied to support population management and conservation efforts Beldade et al, 2014;Selkoe et al, 2016). In particular, the application of genetics for stock identification (Carvalho and Hauser, 1994) and estimates of effective population size, N e (Wright, 1931), combined with traditional fisheries stock assessment models (Hilborn and Walters, 1992) are emerging approaches for advancing conservation management of at-risk species (Luikart et al, 2010;Hare et al, 2011;Ovenden et al, 2016).…”

A brief history of lumpfishing, assessment, and management across the North Atlantic

“…The population of lumpfish in the northeast Atlantic exhibits a continuous distribution from the Irminger Sea off Southeast Greenland, up into the Denmark Strait and across the Norwegian Sea to Norway (ICES, 2016). There is no genetic differentiation within this population (Pampoulie et al, 2014;Garcia-Mayoral et al, 2016) and due to the continuous distribution between Iceland and Norway, it seems likely that there is some exchange of individuals between the Icelandic and Norwegian population. However, the degree of exchange (if any) is unknown and thus it is unclear if it has any significant implications for assessment or management.…”

“…The populations in the eastern and western Atlantic are genetically differentiated, which may be due to the polar water, which flows southward along the eastern Greenland coast, acting as a barrier to gene flow (Pampoulie et al, 2014;Garcia-Mayoral et al, 2016;Jonsdottir et al, 2018). There is genetic structuring of the lumpfish population in western Greenland with two major subpopulations, the northern and southern population.…”

Fish, genes and genomes: contributions to ecology, evolution and management

“…suggested that Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis Schmidt 1904, which throughout the North Pacific is currently considered a single management unit, most likely comprises distinct genetic units. Such subtle structuring holds biological significance in terms of capturing representative population variability in management practices and informing patterns of spatial variability in response to harvesting Garcia-Mayoral et al (2016). detected much more pronounced structuring in exploited lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus L. 1758 corresponding to more limited dispersal abilities of this species compared to H. stenolepis.…”