Conclusive evidence for panmixia in the American eel

• Published in: Molecular Ecology
• Main Author: Pujolar, Jose M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2013
• Subjects: European eel
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.12143; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmec.12143; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.12143

Eels are unique species in the biological world. The two N orth A tlantic eel species, the A merican eel ( A nguilla rostrata ) and the European eel ( A. anguilla ), occupy a broad range of habitats from the C aribbean to G reenland in the western A tlantic and from M orocco to I celand in the eastern A tlantic, respectively. North A tlantic eels have a catadromous life cycle, spawning only in the S argasso S ea and spending the majority of their lives in continental (fresh, brackish and coastal) waters. Despite such a wide distribution range, N orth A tlantic eels have been regarded as a textbook example of panmictic species. In contrast with the large amount of population genetic studies testing the panmixia hypothesis in the E uropean eel, a relatively modest effort has been given to study the population structure of the A merican eel. In this issue of Molecular Ecology , Côté et al . ( ) present the most comprehensive A merican eel data set to date, which includes samples of different life stages obtained throughout all its distribution range in N orth A merica. Results show a total lack of genetic differentiation among samples and provide decisive evidence for panmixia in the A merican eel.