Phylogeography and taxonomic status of trout and salmon from the Ponto-Caspian drainages, with inferences on European Brown Trout evolution and taxonomy.

ABSTRACT: Current taxonomy of western Eurasian trout leaves a number of questions open; it is not clear to what extent some species are distinct genetically and morphologically. The purpose of this paper was to explore phylogeography and species boundaries in freshwater and anadromous trout from the drainages of the Black and the Caspian Seas (Ponto-Caspian). We studied morphology and mitochondrial phylogeny, combining samples from the western Caucasus within the potential range of five nominal species of trout that are thought to inhabit this region, and using the sequences available from GenBank. Our results suggest that the genetic diversity of trout in the Ponto-Caspian region is best explained with the fragmentation of catchments. (1) All trout species from Ponto-Caspian belong to the same mito

SUBMITTER: Ninua L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5838059 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature