Morphometric characteristics and length of the 'variable region' in the nonrepetitive domain of the adhesive protein of Mytilus species in the Asamushi area, Northern Japan

Shell morphology and length of the nonrepetitive region of the foot protein 1 (adhesive protein) amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) usin g oligonucleotide primers, Me 15 and Me 16, were examined in mussels collec ted from Asamushi water, northern Japan, and compared to those of M. gallop rovincialis Lamarck from Maruishi, Hiroshima, Japan. The Asamushi mussels w ere collected from a suspended rope substrate and M. galloprovincialis of M aruishi from a floating dock. The mussels of the Asamushi area have been re ferred to as M. edulis Linnaeus or M. edulis galloprovincialis Lamarck, and were recently supposed to be M. galloprovincialis and/or M. trossulus Goul d based on the geographical distributions of these species. Although 14 of 19 variables of shell characters differed significantly between mussels of Asamushi and M. galloprovincialis from Maruishi, both canonical variates an alysis using eighteen shell characters and PCR product analysis showed that the mussels from Asamushi were M. galloprovincialis. The result of PCR pro duct analysis also indicated no hybridization between M. galloprovincialis and M. trossulus in the Asamushi area.