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Allozyme electrophoresis was carried out over 7 loci that were selected from a maximum of fourteen enzymes. These 7 loci showed an average polymorphism, over the entire population, of 23%. Genetic index and distance showed that a genetic variation is present in the sub-populations surveyed, with a significant difference within the sub-populations of Delimara and Anchor Bay. 54% of the specimens sampled show that they are coming from the same population. Another 12%, mainly specimens collected from Anchor Bay, show that they are genetically different. In both these sites, different sub-populations may have been in contact with different environmental conditions allowing for changes to occur. Differences in allelic frequencies between Holothuria polii from different sites were also detected., peer-reviewed

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to assess the genetic variation of the sea cucumber Holothuria polii population. A total of 33 loci were chosen from the 7 primers used. The study revealed that there is divergence between sub-populations found on the east coast and the west coast of Malta, especially at the Anchor Bay site (I = 0.7; D = 0.3). On the other hand, Delimara’s sub-population showed a high homozygozity and less effective alleles (H = 0.214, N = 1.295), possibly due to a decline in numbers, as a result to new selection pressures. The UPGMA dendrogram obtained of the entire Maltese population shows that H. polii is sub-divided into two distinct populations, the north-westerly sub-populations and the south-eastern sub-populations., peer-reviewed