| Summary: | Historically, the Atlantic sturgeon Acipenser sturio L., 1758 was considered the only sturgeon species that inhabited rivers of the Iberian Peninsula. Nevertheless, in a recent paper, Garrido- Ramos et al. (1997) identified specimen EBD 8174 (museum collection of the Doñana Biological Station, Spain), from the Guadalquivir River, as the Adriatic sturgeon Acipenser naccarii Bonaparte, 1836, suggesting that both A. sturio and A. naccarii could be native to Spain. To test this theory, we compared partial mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene sequences obtained from museum specimens of A. sturio that originated from the Iberian Peninsula, the Adriatic and the North Sea, as well as from live individuals of the Gironde River population in France. Specimens of A. naccarii and of the Siberian sturgeon Acipenser baerii Brandt, 1869 from fish farms were also included in the study. DNA from museum specimens was successfully amplified using the protocol of France and Kocher (1996) for DNA extraction from formalin-fixed and ethanol-preserved samples. Phylogenetic analysis was performed on partial cyt b gene sequences (over 402-bp and 245-bp). We identified specimen EBD 8174 as A. sturio, confirming the opinion that A. sturio is the only sturgeon species of the Iberian Peninsula. Further molecular analyses of museum specimens are needed for a description of the historical intraspecies genetic variation within A. sturio. This information is crucial for any future recovery plan for this species. Our comparison also showed interspecies sequence divergence ranging from 6.91% (A. sturio/A. naccarii) to 7.43% (A. sturio/A. baerii). Históricamente, el esturión atlántico Acipenser sturio L., 1758 ha sido considerado la única especie de esturión que vive en los ríos de la península Ibérica, siendo así demostrado por múltiples estudios morfológicos recientes. Sin embargo, un trabajo reciente identificó el ejemplar del río Guadalquivir EBD 8174 como Acipenser naccarii Bonaparte, 1836, sugiriendo que ambas especies de esturión ...
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