PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PUFFERFISH OF GENUS TAKIFUGU BY RAPD ANALYSIS

Amplifications with 300 10 base primers under predetermined optimal reaction yielded 2762 reproducible amplified fragments ranging from 200 to 3000 bp. Genetic distances among five species of Takifugu and Lagocephalus spadiceus as outgroup were calculated based on the presence/absence of the amplified fragments. Topological phylogenic trees of the 5 species of Takifugu and the outgroup were generated by Parsimony and Neighbor Joining analysis based on RAPD data set. The genetic distance between T. rubripes and T. pseudommus was almost the same as that between individuals within each species, but was much smaller than that among T. rubripes , T. pseudommus and the other species. The molecular data from RAPD analysis convincingly showed that T. rubripes and T. pseudommus should be the same species.