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¹ University of Szczecin, Faculty of Biology, Department of General Zoology, Felczaka 3c Street, 71-415 Szczecin, Poland
² University of Szczecin, Faculty of Biology, Department of Genetics, Felczaka 3c Street, 71-415 Szczecin, Poland DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v18_10_02 Viewed : 3676 - Downloaded : 2857 Whitefish of the genus Coregonus is a valuable component of ichtyofauna, whose area of occurrence has decreased in the recent years. While whitefish still occur in natural populations in north-western Poland, the diversity of Polish whitefish is poorly understood. In the present study we investigate migratory whitefish from the Oder River as coastal whitefish from eastern and western populations of the Polish Baltic Sea, whitefish from lakes of northern Poland and raised whitefish stock from hatcheries. The subject of the study was the application of mtDNA PCR-RFLP and sequencing techniques to evaluate the genetic potential of the whitefish populations. For this purpose ND1, ND5/6 and a D-loop fragment were analysed. The most haplotypes were observed only in the migratory whitefish population from the Oder River. The greatest genetic distance of 0.029 was between the migratory populations from Lake Dąbie, Oder River, and the populations from Lake Morzycko, the Pomeranian Bay and the eastern migratory populations. The obtained results showed low variability between the analysed populations of the migratory, lake and whitefish broodstocks. The results of this study are a valuable molecular characterization of the populations and will provide data to conduct further genetic monitoring required for the ongoing protection and reintroduction activities. Keywords : Whitefish, mtDNA, ND1, ND5/6, D-loop