Microsatellite-Based Assessment of Genetic Variation in Tench (Tinca tinca) from Different Polish Regions

Abstract The tench (Tinca tinca) is a freshwater fish that inhabits shallow lakes, small water bodies and lower parts of rivers. This fish is important in the conservation of the biodiversity of European ichthyofauna and aquaculture. In this paper we have estimated the genetic variability of stocks of tench from five distanced locations, initializing a program of genetic studies of this fish in Poland. The genetic variation in the investigated group of fish was moderate. Observed and expected heterozygosity was in range 0.40–0.45 and 0.44–0.48 respectively. Between 37–44 alleles were detected in investigated stocks. In all investigated stocks, genetic variation was reduced because of bottleneck and founder effect (Garza-Williamson M index in range 0.45–0.60) and inbreeding. Genetic distance between the investigated groups of fish was small or moderate. Analysis of genetic structure revealed genetic differences between two stocks from Żabieniec and confirmed their different origin. The genetic variation of stocks included in this study was typical for the Central European area of occurrence of this species.