Stock Characterization of the Fleshy Prawn (Penaeus chinensis) in the Yellow Sea by Intraspecific Sequence Variation of the Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit I Gene

To determine the amount of genetic variation among populations of Penaeus chinensis (Osbeck) in the Yellow Sea, 342 bp region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene was amplified and sequenced. Six haplotypes, which differ by from one to four nucleotide sustitutions, were detected from 34 individuals of 4 populations examined. Mean sequence divergence between pairs of haplotypes was $0.68\%$. Most individuals from 4 populations were shared by the most common genotype. This genotype was distributed evenly in the Korean and Chinese populations. This result is in accordance with findings observed using RFLPs analysis of mtDNA (Hwang et al., 1997). Therefore, it is suggested that P. chinensis should be treated as one unit stock in the Yellow Sea.