Genetic Differentiation of Round Sardinella Sardinella aurita (Clupeidae) Populations from the Northeastern Mediterranean

Abstract

The genetic structure of round sardinella Sardinella aurita populations sampled from the eastern Mediterranean, Iskenderun, Mersin, and Antalya Bays, was examined through cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequencing of mtDNA. A total of 32 haplotypes was obtained from COI sequences, and the mean haplotype diversity was found to be 0.7917. The highest nucleotide diversity was observed in the Antalya population (0.0187), while the lowest was in the Mersin population (0.0093). The highest genetic divergence was detected between Iskenderun and Antalya populations (0.0168), whereas the lowest was between Iskenderun and Mersin populations (0.0119). Pairwise comparisons of genetic distance showed that the Iskenderun population statistically differed from the other populations (p < 0.05). The Neighbor–Joining tree revealed that the Mersin and Antalya populations were grouped as the nearest, while the Iskenderun population differed far from these populations. The present investigation revealed the first information on the genetic structure of S. aurita, which may be useful for the perspective of fisheries management.