A comparison of allozymes and mitochondrial DNA in Atlantic salmon from Tasmania and from the ancestral population in Canada

About 30 years ago, Atlantic salmon ova were imported from River Philip, Nova Scotia, to found a population in New South Wales, Australia. Ova from the New South Wales stock were subsequently used to found the Tasmanian stock. Allozyme analysis of 7 variable nuclear loci of parr from Tasmania and from their ancestral Canadian population showed that the two samples were very similar to each other, although some minor differences were apparent. One of 18 restriction enzymes ( HinPI) used in mitochondrial DNA analysis revealed polymorphism, with the Tasmanian sample having a small but significant increase in the frequency of the rarer haplotype (0.194±0.046 versus 0.056±0.028). There was no evidence of reduced nuclear or mitochondrial DNA variability in the Tasmanian stock compared to its ancestral stock.