Origin and dispersal for salmonid fishes of subfamily Salmoninae (Salmonidae, Salmoniformes)

An evolutionary scenario is proposed for origin and dispersal of salmonids of the subfamily Salmoninae based on comprehensive analysis of their ecology, reproductive biology, spawning coloration, and karyotypes formation during climate and geological history of the Earth. There is concluded that the brown trout and followed species should be allocated to a separate genus, Trutta Geoffroy, 1767, and the chinook salmon and chum salmon, as representatives of the mykiss phylogenetic line, cannot belong to the genus Oncorhynchus and should be considered as a separate genus, Paraoncorhynchus . The taxa with significantly different and genetically determined ecology and reproductive biology emerged during the salmon evolution from late Oligocene to early Miocene in vastly different conditions of the Asian and American coasts. This is why the genera Oncorhynchus and Parasalmo cannot be considered as parts of a single generic structure. Genetic divergence in isolated areas of Asia and America since late Pliocene led to formation of P. mykiss and P. gairdneri, while cooling in the basins of Okhotsk Sea and Gulf of Alaska at the end of the Pliocene caused separation of the southern and northern forms of O. keta , O. gorbuscha , and Salvelinus malma.

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