Population structure of the deep-sea shrimp (Pandalus borealis) in the north-east Atlantic based on allozyme variation

¹ The Norwegian College of Fishery Science, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
² Norwegian Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture, N-9291 Tromsø, Norway

Received: 15 November 1999
Accepted: 21 February 2000

Abstract

In order to elucidate the population structure of the deep-sea shrimp (Pandalus borealis) in the NE Atlantic, 32 subsamples and 3865 individuals were analysed for allozymic variation. They were caught at various locations in the Barents Sea, in waters off Svalbard, Jan Mayen and Iceland, and in fjords along the Norwegian coast. Only three enzymes (malate dehydrogenase, phosphoglucomutase and glucosephosphate isomerase) of the 22 initially tested showed a combination of gel images that could be interpreted with confidence and allozymic variation. The locus coding for malate dehydrogenase was by far the most polymorphic. Samples caught within the Barents Sea and in the Svalbard area showed no significant heterogeneity in allele frequencies, supporting earlier suggestions of only one population of P. borealis in the Barents Sea. Genetic differentiation was found, however, between Norwegian fjords and the Barents Sea, and among fjords.