GENE GEOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATION OF SOCKEYE- SALMON ONCORHYNCHUS-NERKA (WALBAUM)

Our own and published data on genetic variation in Asian and American populations of sockeye salmon were analyzed. The frequency distributio n of genes LDH-4, GPT*, and PGM-2* was shown to be mosaic in pattern. It was assumed that sockeye salmon colonized Asia repeatedly. This ex plains the clustering of the populations examined into two groups: the first includes the populations of rivers Okhota, Kamchatka, and Avach a; the second comprises populations from western Kamchatka (rivers Pal ana, Khairyuzova, Bol'shaya, and Ozemaya). The Pakhacha population is the closest to American sockeye salmon. Ancestral sockeye salmon popul ations that spawned in rivers of the north American coast in the regio n of the Skeena River could be one of the sources of Asian coast colon ization.