[Allozyme variation in the sea otter (Enhydra lutris L. 1758). Analysis of materials from animals that died on Bering Island in the winter of 1992/1993]

Abstract

By means of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, 42 enzymes and five nonenzyme proteins presumably encoded by 62 loci were studied. The samples were taken from 72 sea otters (Enhydra lutris L.) that perished on Bering Island (Komandor Islands) in winter 1992-1993. The values of allozyme variation parameters (P0.95 = 0.339; P0.99 = = 0.371; NA = 1.40; Hob = 0.075, and Hexp = 0.099) were higher than those found earlier by the author and American investigators. These results do not confirm the association between high annual mortality of sea otters and a possible decrease in viability of the species because of a long existence under conditions of a sharp reduction in number.