Abdul H. Toha, Nashi Widodo, Beginer Subhan, Mahardika R. Himawan, Casandra Tania, Benny A. Noor, Brent S. Stewart, Hawis H. Madduppa
The goal of our study was to evaluate genetic diversity of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) observed in Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesia, compared with that of whale sharks elsewhere in the Indo- Pacific region using mitochondrial DNA. We collected tissue samples from 31 whale sharks, virtually all adolescent males, in Cenderawasih Bay and then extracted, amplified, and sequenced mitochondrial DNA from the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene of the mtDNA COI gene. Genetic diversity of whale sharks in Cenderawasih Bay was low. We detected seven haplotypes and estimated haplotype diversity at 0.187 and nucleotide diversity at 0.002. The average number of pairwise differences was 0.254. These data suggest that the whale sharks that we encountered in Cenderawasih Bay were closely related and less related to whale sharks elsewhere in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean. © 2016, BIOFLUX SRL. All rights reserved.
Fisheries Department, State University of Papua, Jl. Gunumg Salju Amban, Manokwari, 98314, Papua Barat, Indonesia; Biology Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Brawijaya University, Jl. Veteran, Malang, 65145, East Java, Indonesia; Department of Marine Science and Technology, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Bogor Agricultural University, Jl. Agatis No. 1, Darmaga, Bogor, 16680, Indonesia; WWF-Indonesia Teluk Cenderawasih Project, Jl. Raya Manggurai-Iriati, Teluk Wondama, 98362, West Papua, Indonesia; Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, 2595 Ingraham Street, San Diego, United States
