Stream-dwelling white-spotted charr, Salvelinus leucomaenis, populations tend to have unique color and spot patterns in different regions and may even display stream-specific patterns. An extreme edge of such diversity, found in individuals with atypical body color patterns (so-called nagaremon-type charr, a rare morphotype of Salvelinus leucomaenis [hereafter termed nagaremon-charr]), sympatrically occurring with normal-charr, has been reported from only six small isolated populations in Japan. Based on morphological and ecological perspectives, nagaremon-charr has been considered as an intraspecific color variant of white-spotted charr, although the genetic status of nagaremon-charr has not been determined. In this study, genetic diversity and population structure of the nagaremon-charr in a tributary of the Ane River (Lake Biwa system) were investigated through microsatellite and mtDNA analyses. Nagaremon-charr and sympatric normal-charr in the tributary shared the mtDNA haplotypes and were assigned to the same cluster in the STRUCTURE analysis and discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC). These results suggested that nagaremon-charr in the Ane River is an intra-populational specific color variant of white-spotted charr. Above a waterfall, nagaremon-charr specimens exhibited extremely reduced genetic diversity, indicating that genetic drift may account for the fixation of the nagaremon-morphotype. Normal-charr below the waterfall clustered separately from hatchery-reared charr, indicative of native status of the former. Thus, both nagaremon-charr and normal-charr in the entire Ane River tributary should be conserved.
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11 March 2022
Current Genetic Status of Nagaremon-charr, a Threatened Morphotype of Salvelinus leucomaenis in the Ane River, Lake Biwa System, Central Japan, With Comments on Its Conservation
Takeshi Kikko,
Kazuhiro Sugahara,
Yoshitaka Kataoka,
Daisuke Ishizaki,
Tsuyoshi Yoshioka,
Junichi Tsuboi,
Kentaro Morita,
Masayuki Kuwahara,
Kei'ichiro Iguchi,
Yoshiaki Kai,
Kouji Nakayama
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Zoological Science
Vol. 39 • No. 3
June 2022
Vol. 39 • No. 3
June 2022
conservation
GENETIC DRIFT
Lake Biwa system
nagaremon-charr
waterfall