Trout Salmo spp. (Salmoniformes: Salmonidae) Molecular Diversity in Streams on the Southern Slopes of the Stara Planina Mts. in Serbia

Abstract

Brown trout Salmo trutta and Macedonian trout Salmo macedonicus molecular diversity in the streams draining on the southern slopes of the Stara Planina Mts. was assessed from mitochondrial DNA control region (CR) extracted from fin clip samples collected during the last ten years. It revealed an occurrence of seven haplotypes from three phylogeographic lineages (Danubian, Adriatic and Atlantic) in total. Only the two haplotypes, Da1a and Da-s6, can be inferred for certain as the native ones, owing to their occurrence in the headwaters of streams hitherto void of introgression of brown trout from downstream sections, due to unsurmountable waterfalls. The conservation status of brown trout that have the very common Da22 haplotype is not certain yet. They are very abundant in streams that were subject to massive stockings in the last ten years, occurring both in the headwaters and in the downstream sections, without the physical barrier between them. The rest of haplotypes belong either to the Atlantic or Adriatic haplogroups and they are most likely non-native in this area.