Genetic variation between populations of the harp seal, Phoca groenlandica

• Published in: ICES Journal of Marine Science
• Main Authors: Meisfjord, J., Sundt, R. C.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1996
• Subjects: Articles; White Sea; Greenland; Greenland Sea; Harp Seal; Newfoundland; North East Atlantic; Phoca groenlandica
• Online Access: http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/53/1/89; https://doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.1996.0008

Liver and muscle tissue collected from harp seals ( Phoca groenlandica ) in the Newfoundland area were analysed by isoelectric focusing of five known variable enzyme systems. Allele frequencies were compared with corresponding frequencies previously recorded in north-east Atlantic samples. Muscle tissue collected from harp seals in the White Sea area and the Greenland Sea were analysed by DNA-fingerprinting. Samples were compared using band-sharing coefficients. Frequency distributions in AAT-2 and ME-1 were significantly different from those previously found in samples collected in the north-east Atlantic. Accordingly, it seems justified to divide the total stock of harp seals into one eastern and one western component. Highly variable profiles of Pal I digested genomic DNA were revealed using the human minisatellite 33.15 hybridization probe. Intra- and inter-population average band-sharing coefficients were uniformly low (range: 0.111–0.116). DNA-ingerprinting analyses did not reveal evidence for genetic differentiation between White Sea and Greenland Sea harp seals.