Abstract
Black bass populations in Japan were examined for haplotypes of the mitochondrial DNA control region. A total of 16 haplotypes were found from specimens representing 47 Japanese populations and five in North America. Ten haplotypes were of largemouth bass, and three each of Florida bass and smallmouth bass. Three clades of largemouth bass haplotypes were identified by the maximum parsimony method, the major clade comprising seven haplotypes including those found in Iowa, Minnesota and Ontario (USA). It ispossible that the haplotypes of this clade in Japan originated from the introduction of fish from Minnesota and Pennsylvania in 1972. One of the remaining clades, comprising a single haplotype and found throughout Japan, may have originated from the introduction of cultured fish from California in 1925. All of the seven largemouth bass haplotypes found in Japan were found in Lake Yamanaka, such haplotype richness reflecting active stockings of largemouth bass from other Japanese freshwaters. Florida bass haplotypes were found only in Lake Biwa, indicating that the haplotypes could function as indicators of future invasion of black bass into other waters with the active transplantation of other commercially valuable fishes from the lake.
