New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Enzyme variation in marine and estuarine populations of the chiton Sypharochiton pelliserpentis

ALLAN L. FREETH*
FRANK Y. T. SIN

Department of Zoology University of Canterbury Private Bag, Christchurch New Zealand

Abstract Enzyme variation in sheltered- and exposed-marine populations and an estuarine mudflat population of the chiton Sypharochiton pelliserpentis was examined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Six loci were analysed, of which Idh-l, Idh-2, and Me-\ were monomorphic and Est-2, Mdh-\, and Me-2 were polymorphic. All populations shared the same alleles at all loci. A het-erozygote deficiency was detected at the Est-2 locus for the exposed-marine population and a hetero-zygote excess was found at the Mdh-l locus for the sheltered-marine population where allele frequencies were associated with chiton age. Differences were found in allele frequencies between the sheltered- and exposed-marine populations at the Est-2 locus and between females of the marine and estuarine populations at Mdh-\ locus. The Idh-2 locus showed variation in enzyme activity which was neither age nor sex specific, but appeared to be associated with different habitats. Marine population subsamples from high-shore and low-shore levels showed no significant differences in allele frequencies.

Keywords Sypharochiton pelliserpentis; chiton; enzyme; polymorphism; marine intertidal zone; estuary; genetic variation; high-shore; low-shore

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1986, Vol. 20: 561-568 Received 8 June 1983; accepted 21 March 1986

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (638K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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