APPLICATION OF ESTERASE POLYMORPHISM TO SPECIFY POPULATION GENETIC STRUCTURE OF ENGRAULIS ENCRASICOLUS (PISCES: ENGRAULIDAE) IN THE BLACK AND AZOV SEAS

Genetic structure of anchovy populations was studied using genetic-biochemical markers. Anchovy samples collected between 1980 and 2006 from different Black Sea regions (off the Bulgarian, Turkish, Ukraine, and Georgian coasts) as well as from the Sea of Azov were analyzed. Three methods of electrophoresis were applied: starch gel electrophoresis, vertical polyacrylamide electrophoresis, and isoelectric focusing on thin polyacrylamide ampholine gel plates. On the base of long-term monitoring of allelic frequencies of the polymorphic non-specified esterases loci (EST-1* and EST-2*), wintering migration of Azov anchovy may have alternative routs along the western Black Sea coasts. Typical Azov anchovy winter together with the Black Sea anchovy form the mixed populations along the Ukrainian, Georgian, and Turkish Black Sea coasts. Azov anchovy was also registered along Bulgarian coast during the second part of May and July. The results allow supposing the north-western Black Sea as complementary spawning areas of Azov anchovy.