Research Goals & Significance

• In Korea, the construction of water conduits has unilaterally introduced the allopatrically separated fish species Cobitis tetralineata from the Seomjin River to the Dongjin River where its sister species Cobitis nalbanti inhabits for 90 years.

• To assess the impact of the secondary contact on native populations, we investigated the genetic and phenotypic characteristics of the populations inhabiting the hybrid zone and their parental species living in intact native habitats.

• The present study calls attention to a genetic survey throughout the whole distributional range of native fish species to identify the location containing purebred natives and to evaluate the extent of hybridization.