Neil Billington

The increasing importance of the walleye (Sander vitreus) fishery in the New River, Virginia, and recent research findings motivated characterization of its genetic composition. Movements of radio-tagged fish suggested that walleyes living in Claytor Lake and the upper New River tend to spawn in different areas. In this study, allozyme, microsatellite DNA, and mitochondrial DNA genetic marker data were analyzed to assess population genetic differentiation among collections of New River walleye. The walleyes within Claytor Lake are a panmictic population, presumably resulting from years of...

The existence of a distinct walleye (Stizostedion vitreum) population in south-flowing drainages of the southeastern United States has been suspected for some time. Recently, a mitochondrial-DNA (mtDNA) marker was identified that permitted discrimination of these southern walleyes from northern forms. In order to determine the type and distribution of walleyes in Alabama, mtDNA analysis was conducted on 35 individuals collected from 3 river systems within the state. Thirty-one fish collected in the Mobile Basin were the southern form of walleye, which previously had been identified only in...