Genetic Differentiation and Molecular Phylogenetics of North African Catfish from Three Distinct Waterbodies

Abstract The population structure and genetic variability of North African catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) were investigated using partial mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b region sequences. Fifty-four (54) samples from three geographically isolated rivers in Nigeria. analysis 53 haplotypes revealed greater haplotype diversity (0.99930) nucleotide (p) (0.07270). According to an molecular variance (AMOVA), the within populations is significantly higher than across populations. FST scores (0.75000, 0.94792 0.95699) indicated that Nigerian freshwater bodies had a strong structure. phylogenetic reconstruction unique placement (Ogbese) linked by others all groups with point mutation ranging 1 24 nucleotides. Asejire Ureje are genetically diverse, as evidenced high level 1.0000, low spanning 0.05101 0.07889, values (within-population variation). common between some mixes different same cluster demonstrate not distinct.