THE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC STATUS OF ICELANDIC EELS.
The Iceland population of Anguilla eels contains an elevated frequency of fish with vertebral numbers lower than those typical of European localities. Several distinct hypotheses have been advanced to account for these morphologically atypical fish: for example, they could represent (1) genetically...
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1990
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org/ark:/13030/qt3fc8z33r 2023-05-15T16:46:14+02:00 THE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC STATUS OF ICELANDIC EELS. Avise, John C Nelson, William S Arnold, Jonathan Koehn, Richard K Williams, George C Thorsteinsson, Vilhjálmur 1254 - 1262 1990-08-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3fc8z33r unknown eScholarship, University of California qt3fc8z33r https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3fc8z33r CC-BY CC-BY Evolution, vol 44, iss 5 Evolutionary Biology Ecology article 1990 ftcdlib 2019-12-06T23:53:29Z The Iceland population of Anguilla eels contains an elevated frequency of fish with vertebral numbers lower than those typical of European localities. Several distinct hypotheses have been advanced to account for these morphologically atypical fish: for example, they could represent (1) genetically "pure" American expatriates, (2) genetically "pure" European types with ontogenetic abnormalities, or (3) hybrids between American and European forms. Here we critically test these and other possibilities by examining the joint distributions of allozyme markers, mitochondrial DNA markers, and vertebral numbers in Icelandic eels. The particular patterns of association among the genetic and morphological traits demonstrate that the Iceland population includes, in low frequency, the products of hybridization between American and European eels. Approximately 2-4% of the gene pool in the Iceland eel population is derived from American eel ancestry. This hybrid zone is highly unusual in the biological world, because the mating events in catadromous eels presumably take place thousands of kilometers from where the hybrids are observed as maturing juveniles. The molecular data, in conjunction with the geographic distributions, strongly suggest that the differences in migrational behavior and morphology between American and European eels include an important additive genetic component. Evolutionary hypotheses are advanced to account for the original separation of North Atlantic eels into American and European populations, and for the presence of hybrids in Iceland. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland North Atlantic University of California: eScholarship |
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Open Polar |
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University of California: eScholarship |
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language |
unknown |
topic |
Evolutionary Biology Ecology |
spellingShingle |
Evolutionary Biology Ecology Avise, John C Nelson, William S Arnold, Jonathan Koehn, Richard K Williams, George C Thorsteinsson, Vilhjálmur THE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC STATUS OF ICELANDIC EELS. |
topic_facet |
Evolutionary Biology Ecology |
description |
The Iceland population of Anguilla eels contains an elevated frequency of fish with vertebral numbers lower than those typical of European localities. Several distinct hypotheses have been advanced to account for these morphologically atypical fish: for example, they could represent (1) genetically "pure" American expatriates, (2) genetically "pure" European types with ontogenetic abnormalities, or (3) hybrids between American and European forms. Here we critically test these and other possibilities by examining the joint distributions of allozyme markers, mitochondrial DNA markers, and vertebral numbers in Icelandic eels. The particular patterns of association among the genetic and morphological traits demonstrate that the Iceland population includes, in low frequency, the products of hybridization between American and European eels. Approximately 2-4% of the gene pool in the Iceland eel population is derived from American eel ancestry. This hybrid zone is highly unusual in the biological world, because the mating events in catadromous eels presumably take place thousands of kilometers from where the hybrids are observed as maturing juveniles. The molecular data, in conjunction with the geographic distributions, strongly suggest that the differences in migrational behavior and morphology between American and European eels include an important additive genetic component. Evolutionary hypotheses are advanced to account for the original separation of North Atlantic eels into American and European populations, and for the presence of hybrids in Iceland. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Avise, John C Nelson, William S Arnold, Jonathan Koehn, Richard K Williams, George C Thorsteinsson, Vilhjálmur |
author_facet |
Avise, John C Nelson, William S Arnold, Jonathan Koehn, Richard K Williams, George C Thorsteinsson, Vilhjálmur |
author_sort |
Avise, John C |
title |
THE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC STATUS OF ICELANDIC EELS. |
title_short |
THE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC STATUS OF ICELANDIC EELS. |
title_full |
THE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC STATUS OF ICELANDIC EELS. |
title_fullStr |
THE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC STATUS OF ICELANDIC EELS. |
title_full_unstemmed |
THE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC STATUS OF ICELANDIC EELS. |
title_sort |
evolutionary genetic status of icelandic eels. |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
1990 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3fc8z33r |
op_coverage |
1254 - 1262 |
genre |
Iceland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Iceland North Atlantic |
op_source |
Evolution, vol 44, iss 5 |
op_relation |
qt3fc8z33r https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3fc8z33r |
op_rights |
CC-BY |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1766036353507655680 |