Abstract

The rosyside dace, Clinostomus funduloides, is a minnow commonly found in rocky pools of fast-running headwaters and streams throughout its range in the eastern United States. Though C. funduloides has not been officially catalogued in the Upper French Broad (UFB) basin in North Carolina, populations were recently discovered in two UFB sites adjacent to the Catawba and Broad basins, where this species is abundant. To determine the likely origin of the UFB populations, the 1140 bp mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene (CYT-B) was first amplified and sequenced. Then, a NCBI GenBank BLAST was performed to identify sequences within this database sharing the highest identity percentage similarity to UFB sequences. Haplotypes represented by UFB CYT-B sequences and all C. funduloides CYT-B sequences available from the Genbank database were then subjected to Tamura-Nei analysis to establish phylogenetic relationships. Divergence time estimates were calculated using nucleotide percent divergence values returned the accepted molecular clock estimate for Cyprinidae CYT-B. Results indicate that both UFB populations consist of haplotypes sharing >98% similarity to C. funduloides from the adjacent Catawba basin, including a haplotype sharing 100% identity similarity. All UFB and Catawba CYT-B haplotypes form a clade which is separated by 2.64 MY from the clade formed by all other represented haplotypes. It can be concluded that some individuals in the UFB populations represent recent introduction from an extant Catawba population, while other UFB specimens represent Pleistocene-divergent haplotypes that may also be endemic to the Catawba, introduced from other river basins bordering the UFB, or may represent an endemic UFB population. This represents the first attempt to comprehensively study the newly discovered UFB populations. Future research will serve to confirm origin of other haplotypes present in the UFB, further resolve phylogenetic relationships of regional populations, and will serve to inform any necessary habitat conservation policy.

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