Genetic Structure of the Pacific Herring Clupea pallasii Valenciennes, 1847 on a Macrogeographic Scale

Using ten microsatellite loci, the analysis of genetic variability and differentiation of the Pacific herring Clupea pallasii over a wide geographic range in the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering, Chukchi, Kara, Barents, and White seas was performed. A similar level of genetic variability is shown for the herring belonging to three geographical subspecies. The genetic structure at a large scale is most pronounced between the three geographical subspecies of herring, with the different level of genetic differentiation within each of the subspecies. Herring of the Pacific distribution range is differentiated only at the level of large basins, the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea, which indicates a significant level of gene exchange, as in the southeastern part of the Barents Sea and in the Kara Sea. However, the gene flow in the White Sea herring is limited to a very small spatial scale.