DOI: 10.5061/dryad.29g768sc
title: Data from: Mitochondrial and morphological variation of Tilapia zillii in Israel

description: BACKGROUND: Tilapia zillii is widespread in the East Levant inland aquatic
 systems as well as in artificial water reservoirs. In this study we
 explore the genetic and morphological variation of this widespread
 species, using mitochondrial control-region sequences and meristic
 characters. We examine the hypothesis that T. zilli's population
 structure corresponds to the four Israeli aquatic systems. RESULTS: Out of
 seven natural water bodies, only two were found to possess genetically
 divergent populations of T. zillii. In addition to its presence in fish
 farms, the species was found in two artificial recreational ponds which
 were supposed to have been stocked only with other fish species. In these
 two artificial habitats, the haplotype frequencies diverged significantly
 from those of natural populations. Finally, fish from the Dead Sea springs
 of Ne'ot HaKikar appear to differ both genetically and
 morphologically from fish of the same aquatic system but not from fish of
 other water systems. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the population
 structure of T. zillii does not match the geography of the Israeli
 water-basins, with the exception of the Dead Sea and Kishon River, when
 considering natural populations only. The absence of a significant
 divergence between basins is discussed. Our results and observations
 suggest that the Ne'ot HaKikar Dead Sea population and those of
 artificial ponds could have originated from the "hitchhiking" of
 T. zillii, at the expense of some other cultivated tilapiine species.
description: DLoop_T_ZilliiTilapia zillii D-loop sequence alignment in Fasta format. TAUP numbers are voucher specimens deposited in the National Collection of Natural History at Tel- Aviv University. Haplotype numbers are specified. Populations and basins of origin are denoted as follows: TM, Taninim (coastal); EA, Ein Afek (coastal); KN, Kishon (Kishon); KT, Kinneret (Jordan); BS, Beit She’an (Jordan); EF, Ein Feshkha (Dead Sea); NH, Ne’ot HaKikar (Dead-Sea introduced); RG, Ramat Gan (coastal introduced); NM, Nitzanim (coastal introduced); MA, HaMa'apil (coastal introduced). Haplotypes of each population have been submitted under under accession numbers EU163705-EU163723 and FJ613474-FJ613479meristicsCounts of meristic characters in Tilapia zillii. TAUP numbers are voucher specimens deposited in the National Collection of Natural History at Tel- Aviv University. Populations of origin are denoted as follows: TM, Taninim (coastal); EA, Ein Afek (coastal); KN, Kishon (Kishon); KT, Kinneret (Jordan); BS, Beit She’an (Jordan); EF, Ein Feshkha (Dead Sea); NH, Ne’ot HaKikar (Dead-Sea introduced); RG, Ramat Gan (coastal introduced); NM, Nitzanim (coastal introduced); MA, HaMa'apil (coastal introduced). The characters considered are denoted as follows: LL1, Number of scales along the upper lateral line; LL2, Number of scales along the lower lateral line; TR1, Number of scales between the dorsal fin and the upper lateral line; TR2, Number of scales between the upper and lower lateral line; TR3, Number of scales between the lower lateral line and the anal fin; P, Number of rays in the pectoral fin; Pbr, Number of branched rays in the pectoral fin; V, Number of rays in the ventral fin; Vbr, Number of branched rays in the ventral fin; D, Number of rays in the dorsal fin; Dbr, Number of branched rays in the dorsal fin; DS, Number of spikes in the dorsal fin; A, Number of rays in the anal fin; Abr, Number of branched rays in the anal fin; AS, Number of spikes in the anal fin; C, Number of rays in the caudal fin; Cbr, Number of branched rays in the caudal fin; LPR, The position of the longest pectoral ray; LVR, The position of the longest ventral ray; LDR, The position of the longest dorsal ray; LAR, The position of the longest anal ray; GR, The number of gill rakers