On the differentiation of the ecological forms/subspecies of the whitefish Coregonus lavaretus from lake Kamennoye

Morphological and molecular genetic data on two ecological forms/subspecies of the whitefish Coregonus lavaretus sensu lato from Lake Kamennoye (Kem River basin of the White Sea) are reported. It is shown that the whitefish subspecies C. lavaretus lavaretus and C, lavaretus mediospinatus have dominantly retained their morphological and biological characteristics since the time they were first described and that the subspecies C, lavaretuspallasi does not occur in the lake at present. Analysis of the variability of the gene ND1 mtDNA has shown that the dominant haplotypes of both ecological forms/subspecies of the whitefish from Lake Kamennoye are fairly well-differentiated from each other and from the Alpine haplogroup of whitefish to which they originally belonged. Whitefish subspecies from Lake Kamennoye are even more isolated genetically from western Baltic Sea whitefish. The genetic data obtained suggest that three whitefish subspecies from the Kem River basin were formed by hybridization of two phylogenetic lines of whitefish which penetrated into the region from continental refugia after the last glacier retreat.