From FishBio:
The popular historical fisheries management practice of transplanting fish from one location to another wreaked ecological havoc in California, but in the case of the imperilled Sacramento perch (Archoplites interruptus) may actually have been a lifeline. Today the species only exists in places where it was introduced, having been completely extirpated from its native range. Unfortunately, those fish movers of the past were far more interested in transplanting fish than in keeping records on said transplantation. This has made some modern fish populations a puzzle of mixed-up genetics, which must be solved to inform species management plans. Untangling the genetic history of the remaining Sacramento perch populations is critical for informing management actions to ensure the species persists into the future.
To help build a road map for conservation efforts, researchers from UC Davis and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife undertook a genetic analysis of Sacramento perch from throughout their present-day range (Coen et al. 2021). Their findings published in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society revealed a significant genetic split among perch collected in different locations, indicating a potential difference in ancestry that may be a critical consideration when trying to increase the genetic diversity of the small, isolated populations that exist today.
Click here to continue reading from FishBio.
