Dijar Lutz-Carrillo

To determine if inbreeding was a cause of an apparent decline of large striped bass (Morone saxatilis) in Lake Texoma, striped bass sampled from four sites on the reservoir (n = 206), in the Red River below Denison Dam in 2001 (n = 58), and archived scale samples from Lake Texoma collections in 1978 (n = 44) were genotyped and evaluated at six microsatellite loci. There was evidence of weak population genetic structure among the collection sites. However, analyses of Hardy-Weinberg and linkage equilibrium within sites did not provide evidence of recent inbreeding within Lake Texoma....

Striped bass (Morone saxatilis) were first introduced into inland waters of Texas in 1967. Since that initial introduction, 44 inland waters within the state have been stocked with over 120,000,000 striped bass and the species has become the fourth most popular sport fish among anglers. Although successful striped bass fisheries have been established in numerous Texas reservoirs, there are few self-sustaining populations, and maintenance of the fisheries is dependent upon hatchery stocking programs. The high fecundity of striped bass renders the species vulnerable to genetic drift and...