Morphological and karyotypic variation in three wild populations of Meretrix meretrix

Three wild populations of Meretrix meretrix sampled from Dongxing, Beihai, and Shankou along the coast of Guangxi, China, were investigated with morphometry and karyometry. Six morphological indices (shell length, shell height, shell width, hinge length, total wet weight and shell weight) were measured. Differences in all morphological indices except hinge length were significant among the three populations (P < 0.05). The mean values of these indices (except for the hinge length) in the Dongxing population were larger than those in the Beihai and Shankou populations, although the latter had the largest hinge length. The karyotype of the Beihai, Shankou and Dongxing samples had ten metacentric, six submetacentric, and three subtelocentric chromosome pairs. No significant difference was shown in the centromeric index values of the chromosomes in the populations (P>0.05). However, the order of metacentric, submetacentric and subtelocentric chromosome pairs was variable among the three populations. The results indicate a high level of inter-population variation in morphology and karyotype.