Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Similarity of Atlantic and Pacific Albacore Tuna (Thunnus alalunga)

Abstract

Restriction endonuclease analysis of mitochondrial DNA purified from 11 south Atlantic (Capetown, South Africa) and 12 north Pacific (San Diego, USA) albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) revealed no restriction sites which could distinguish an Atlantic from a Pacific albacore. Although restriction site variation was found within the pooled sample, variants were found only in single fish. These results suggest either recent isolation of Atlantic and Pacific albacore or, more likely, at least a small amount of migration between the two ocean basins.