GENETIC SUBSTRUCTURE OF THE PACIFIC HARBOR SEAL (PHOCA-VITTULINA RICHARDSI) OFF WASHINGTON, OREGON, AND CALIFORNIA

Genetic substructure among groups of Pacific harbor seals, Phaca vitul ina richardsi, along the western coast of the United States was invest igated using mitochondrial DNA sequences. Blood and tissue samples wer e removed from 86 seals inhabiting Puget Sound and the Pacific coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. A 320 base-pair segment of the control region was amplified using the polymerase chain reaction and d irectly sequenced. These data indicated a high level of diversity. Thi rty variable sites were found that: define 47 mitochondrial haplotypes . Among groups of P. v. richardsi sampled, 5 haplotypes were shared, b ut most (42) were unique to a locality. Haplotypic frequency and an An alysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) revealed significant differences (P = 0.001) among regions. Phylogenetic analysis indicated Puget Sound seals possess unique divergent lineages not found in seals from the c oasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. These lineages may repres ent haplotypes from north of Washington, which is consistent: with lat e reproductive timing of harbor seals from Puget Sound.