Genetic Diversity of Vulnerable Assamese Kingfish, Cyprinion semiplotum (McClelland, 1839), Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA Marker

Cyprinion semiplotum (order: Cypriniformes; family: Cyprinidae) is endemic to Southern Asia and has limited distribution in rivers of Eastern Himalayan region. It has an important role in ecology and is an important source of nutritious food and livelihood to the local people. In the recent past, the population of this species has declined due to various anthropogenic factors, and consequently, it has been categorized under vulnerable species. Genetic stock structure information would be useful to formulate appropriate management and conservation measures. The present study is carried out to characterize the Cyprinion semiplotum stocks collected from selected rivers in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India, using mitochondrial ATPase 6/8 gene. A total of 14 haplotypes were found with nucleotide diversity in the range of 0.0013–0.0028. The result of AMOVA analysis also revealed that 99.44% of the genetic variation contained within stocks/populations and 0.56% occurred among populations/stocks. The results of the present study indicated that C. semiplotum stocks in north eastern part of India have low genetic differentiation and may be considered as a single panmictic population.