MORPHOLOGICAL AND mtDNA SEQUENCE STUDIES SEARCHING FOR THE ROOTS OF SILVER CRUCIAN CARP CARASSIUS GIBELIO (CYPRINIDAE) FROM PONDS OF SERGIEVKA PARK, SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

The roots of the silver crucian carp Carassius gibelio from ponds of Sergievka Park (Petergof, Saint Petersburg), were surveyed based on morphological and molecular (mitochondrial DNA sequences, control and cytochrome b regions) study of samples of this species, collected there in 1930-thies and 2008, in comparison with C. g. gibelio and C. gibelio. subsp. M. collected from Kazakhstan. It is demonstrated, that the fish is most similar to C. gibelio gibelio morphologically. Their mitochondrial haplotypes were clustered with those of the Far Eastern populations such as the Amurian one. The result indicates that the silver crucian carp of Sergievka Park has been introduced originally from the Far East region.