Study of separation between fall and spring run populations of Caspian lamprey, Caspiomyzon wagneri in the southern Caspian Sea (Shirud River) due to different migration time using microsatellite markers

Caspian lamprey (Caspiomyzon wagneri), a native species of the Caspian Sea, is under threatened by destruction of its habitats. The present study was carried out to investigate the possibility of separation between fall and spring run populations of Caspian lamprey in Shirud River due to different migration time using microsatellite markers. For this purpose, Caspian lampreys were sampled in fall and spring during their reproductive migrations at the Shirud River Bridge. After extraction of DNA from 46 fish, 4 primer pairs were used for polymerase chain reaction for selective proliferation. In this study, a total of 3 specific alleles were identified, one for fall autumn population in Locus Lun3 and two others for spring population in Lun5. The results showed no significant difference between the fall and spring immigrant populations, and the genetic distances of Fst (0.76) and Nei (0.206) indicated they belong to one population Units. Therefore, it can be concluded that the rate of homing behavior in the Caspian lamprey is very low preventing the formation of a separate populations.