Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Biochemical genetic study of European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) in Lake Mondsee, Upper Austria

  • Published:
Aquatic Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mature coregonids of Lake Mondsee were caught during spawning time on three known spawning sites. The aim of the study was to reveal whether the three stocks are reproductively isolated, and in consequence to decide whether they should be managed as separate stocks or as one panmictic population.

Fish were examined morphologically and their tissue samples were examined electrophoretically for the enzyme products of 37 genetic loci.

The gill-raker numbers (28–40) and electrophoretic alleles were typical for European whitefish,Coregonus lavaretus. No genetic differentiation (Nei's genetic distance D = 0.000) was found between the three samples studied. The genetic characteristics of the Lake Mondsee whitefish population, based on pooled genetic data, was compared to several other European whitefish populations. The average heterozygosity (6.5%) was high as usually in whitefish; genetic distances between the Lake Mondsee and three other European whitefish populations were within the range reported for the geographically distant populations of the species. Management implications of the results are briefly discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bodaly, R.A., 1979. Morphological and ecological divergence within the lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) species complex in Yukon Territory. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 36:1214–1222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodaly, R.A., J.W. Clayton and C.C. Lindsey, 1988. Status of the Squanga whitefish,Coregonus sp., in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Canadian Field-Naturalist 102:114–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodaly, R.A., J. Vuorinen, R.D. Ward, M. Luczynski and J.D. Reist, 1991. Genetic comparisons of New and Only World coregonid fishes. J. Fish Biol. 38:37–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodaly, R.A., J.W. Clayton, C.C. Lindsey and J. Vuorinen, 1992. Evolution of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in North America during the Pleistocene: genetic differentiation between sympatric populations. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 49:769–779.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clayton, J. W. and D. N. Tretiak, 1972. Amine-citrate buffers for pH control in starch gel electrophoresis. J. Fish. Res. Board Can., 29:1169–1172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foote, C. J., J. W. Clayton, C. C. Lindsey and R. A. Bodaly, 1992. Evolution of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in North America during the Pleistocene: evidence for a Nahanni glacial refuge race in the northern Cordillera region. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 49:760–768.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franzin, W. G. and J.W. Clayton, 1977. A biochemical study of zoogeography of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in western Canada. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 34:617–625.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heese, T., 1990. Whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus L., 1758) of Polish Waters. Przeglad Zoologiczny 301–318. In Polish with English summary.

  • Heese, T., M. Luczynski, J. A. Vuorinen and S. Falkowski, 1995. Genetic and morphological characteristics of five breeding stocks of European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) in Poland. Pol. Arch. Hydrobiol. (Submitted).

  • Henault, M. and R. Fortin, 1989. Comparison of meristic an morphometric characters among spring- and fall-spawning ecotypes of cisco (Coregonus artedii) in southern Quebec, Canada. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 46:166–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hindar, K., N. Ryman and F. Utter, 1991. Genetic effect of cultured fish on natural fish populations. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 48:945–957.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jagsch, A., 1992. Erfahrungen bei der Bewirtschaftung der Salzkammergutseen. In: ALPEN-FISCH. Fischereiliche Bewirtschaftung stehender und fliessender Gewässer. Öko-Text 1/92:53–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkpatrick, M. and R.K. Selander, 1979. Genetics of speciation in lake whitefishes in the Allagash Basin. Evolution 33:478–485.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kristofferson, A. H., and J. W. Clayton, 1990. Subpopulation status of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in Lake Winnipeg. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 47:1484–1494.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindsey, C. C., 1981. Stocks are chameleons: plasticity in gill rakers of coregonid fishes. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 38:1497–1506.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luczynski, M., S. Falkowski, J. Vuorinen and M. Jankun, 1992. Genetic identification of European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus), peled (C. peled) and their hybrids in spawning stocks of ten Polish lakes. In: T.N. Todd and M. Luczynski (eds.), Biology and Management of Coregonid Fishes. Pol. Arch. Hydrobiol. 39:571–577.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luczynski, M., R. Rösch, J. A. Vuorinen and P. Brzuzan, 1995. Biochemical genetic study of Lake Constance whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) sympatric populations: “Blaufelchen” and “Gangfisch”. Aquat. Sci. 57: 136–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nei, M., 1978. Estimation of average heterozygosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals. Genetics 89:583–590.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raunich, L. and V. Malesani, 1982. Biometric study on the whitefish of two Northern Italian lakes. Boll. Zool. 49:135–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ridgway, G. J., S. W. Sherburne and R. D. Lewis, 1970. Polymorphism in the esterases of Atlantic herring. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 99:147–151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rösch, R., 1987. Egg-size of pelagic and nearshore spawning coregonids (Coregonus lavaretus L.) from Lake Costance correlated with the fish weight. Arch. Hydrobiol. 109:519–523.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryman, N., 1991. Conservation genetics considerations in fishery management. Journal of Fish Biology 39(A):211–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, C. R. and R. Prasad, 1970. Starch gel electrophoresis of enzymes — a compilation of recipes. Biochemical Genetics 4:297–320.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Swofford, D. L. and R. B. Selander, 1981. BIOSYS-1: a FORTRAN program for the comprehensive analysis of electrophoretic data in population genetics and systematics. J. Hered. 72:281–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Todd, T. N. and G. R. Smith, 1980. Differentiation inCoregonus zenithicus in Lake Superior. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 37:2228–2235

    Google Scholar 

  • Todd, T. N., G. R. Smith and L. E. Cable, 1981. Environmental and genetic contributions to morphological differentiation in ciscoes (Coregoninae) of the Great Lakes. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 38:59–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verspoor, E. and J. Hammar, 1991. Introgressive hybridization in fishes: the biochemical evidence. Journal of Fish biology 39(A):309–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vuorinen, J., 1984. Electrophoretic expression of genetic variation and duplicate gene activity in vendace,Coregonus albula (Salmonidae). Hereditas 101:85–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vuorinen, J., 1988. Enzyme genes as interspecific hybridization probes in Coregoninae fishes. Finnish Fisheries Research 9:31–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vuorinen, J. and J. Piironen, 1984. Inheritance and joint segregation of biochemical loci in European whitefish, genusCoregonus. Hereditas 101:97–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vuorinen, J., A. Champigneulle, K. Dabrowski, R. Eckmann and R. Rösch, 1986. Electrophoretic variation in central European coregonid populations. Arch. Hydrobiol. Beih. Ergebn. Limnol. 22:291–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vuorinen, J., T.F. Naesje and O.T. Sandlund, 1991a. Genetic changes in vendaceCoregonus albula (L.) population, 92 years after introduction. Journal of Fish Biology 39(A):193–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vuorinen, J., M. Luczynski, T. Heese and R.A. Bodaly, 1991b. Morphological and genetic description of the whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus L.) population inhabiting Pomeranian Bay (Poland). Acta Hydrobiologica (Krakow) 33:65–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vuorinen, J.A., R.A. Bodaly, J.D. Reist, L. Bernatchez and J.J. Dodson, 1993. Genetic and morphological differentiation between dwarf and normal size forms of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in Como Lake, Ontario. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 50:210–216.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Basic Fishery Sciences, Olsztyn University of Agriculture and Technology, 10-718, Olsztyn-Kortowo Bl. 37, Poland

    M. Luczynski

  2. Scharfling 8, A-5310, Mondsee, Austria

    B. Ritterbusch-Nauwerck

Authors
  1. M. Luczynski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B. Ritterbusch-Nauwerck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Contribution No. 21 in the Program of Joint Investigation of Holarctic Fishes among Russia, Canada, Finland, and Poland

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Luczynski, M., Ritterbusch-Nauwerck, B. Biochemical genetic study of European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) in Lake Mondsee, Upper Austria. Aquatic Science 57, 127–135 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00877381

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00877381

Key words

Search

Navigation