Wenying Hong

Center for Tropical Biological Resources Research, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 3   
Received: 28 Mar., 2025    Accepted: 30 Apr., 2025    Published: 18 May, 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study summarizes the geographical pattern of catfish population genetic structure and global gene flow characteristics, expounds the theoretical basis and technical progress of catfish population genetic research, compares the typical patterns of catfish population genetic structure in different regions such as Asia, Africa and South America, Europe and North America, and analyzes the dynamic mechanisms affecting global catfish gene flow, including geographical and ecological barriers (such as watershed isolation, habitat differences), paleoclimate and geohistorical events, and human activities (such as dams and species introduction). At the same time, it also explores the significance of population genetic structure and gene flow in ecological adaptation, hybridization consequences and speciation, and uses case studies such as Asia (such as the giant catfish in the Mekong River), America (such as the Amazon migratory catfish) and human introduction (such as the invasion of African catfish in Bangladesh) to deepen understanding. This study looks forward to the application prospects of catfish population genetic research, such as genetic resource protection, breeding application, advanced technical means and international cooperation, and provides a reference for population genetic research and resource management of catfish and other aquatic organisms.

Catfish; Population; Genetic structure; Geographical pattern; Gene flow