Low Genetic and Morphometric Intraspecific Divergence in Peripheral Copadichromis Populations (Perciformes: Cichlidae) in the Lake Malawi Basin

Abstract

Peripheral isolated populations may undergo rapid divergence from the main population due to various factors such as a bottleneck or a founder effect followed by genetic drift or local selection pressures. Recent populations of two economically important Copadichromis species in Lake Malombe, a satellite lake of Lake Malawi, were neither genetically nor morphometrically distinct from their source populations in the main lake. Evidence was found for a founder effect which had a different impact on the genetic composition of the two species. In addition, the increased fishing pressure in Lake Malombe may have led to a reduction of the body sizes of both species.