0028–8330/05/3903–0515 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005 Allozyme variation in European lobster (Homarus gammarus) throughout its distribution range

• Main Authors: Knut E. Jørstad, Eva Farestveit, Eamonn Kelly, Costas Triantaphyllidis
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: New Zealand; Norway; European lobster; Homarus gammarus; Northern Norway
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.134.1752; http://www.rsnz.org/publish/nzjmfr/2005/040-lo.pdf

gammarus, is a high value species, which is widely distributed from the northern part of Norway to Morocco in North Africa. It is also found throughout the Mediterranean including the Aegean Sea. Knowledge of the genetic structure is necessary for rational management of exploited species. As part of a comprehensive genetic investigation of European lobster (EU-project “Genetics of European Lobster”), 1514 lobsters from 14 locations were analysed for six polymorphic allozyme loci. Despite generally low levels of genetic differentiation (overall FST = 0.016), the tests for population differentiation revealed highly significant values for all loci investigated. In particular, the lobsters from three areas including northern Norway, the Netherlands, and Aegean Sea in the Mediterranean were genetically different from lobsters from other regions. Lobsters from northern Norway have 30 % of the