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Biochemical genetics of the sea anemone Bunodosoma cavernata and the zoogeography of the Gulf of Mexico

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Abstract

Much of the inshore fauna of the Gulf of Mexico has a disjunct distribution around the tip of Florida. Some of this fauna is composed of temperate, Carolinian species whose separation is thought to be due to warming after the last glacial period. Other species with this distribution are more eurythermal, and the vicariant event affecting them is unclear. One such eurythermal species is the sea anemone Bunodosoma cavernata. Using the genetic distance between Gulf and Atlantic populations of this species as an estimator of time since divergence, it is concluded that the vicariant event was the emergence of Florida in the Pliocene. It is suggested that the present Gulf Stream system maintains the separation of these populations.

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  1. Marine Science Program, University of Houston, 4700 Avenue U, 77550, Galveston, Texas, USA

    S. A. McCommas

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  1. S. A. McCommas
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Communicated by J. M. Lawrence, Tampa

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McCommas, S.A. Biochemical genetics of the sea anemone Bunodosoma cavernata and the zoogeography of the Gulf of Mexico. Mar. Biol. 68, 169–173 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397603

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