Genetic structure of the lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus across the North Atlantic

BioPol, Einbu ´astig 2, 545 Skagastro¨nd, Iceland*Corresponding author: tel: +354 575 2038; fax: +354 575 2001; e-mail: chrisp@hafro.isPampoulie,C.,Skirnisdottir,S.,Olafsdottir,G.,Helyar,S.J.,Thorsteinsson,V.,Jo´nsson,S.Þ.,Fre´chet,A.,Durif,C.M.F.,Sherman,S.,Lampart-Kaluz˙niacka, M., Hedeholm, R., O´lafsson, H., Dani´elsdo´ttir, A. K., and Kasper, J. M. Genetic structure of the lumpshCyclopterus lumpus acrossthe North Atlantic. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71: 2390–2397.Received22 November 2013; revised 26 March 2014; accepted 28 March2014; advance accesspublication 28 May2014.Lumpsh,orlumpsucker,Cyclopteruslumpus(Linnaeus,1758)iswidelydistributedintheNorthAtlanticOcean.IthasaconsiderableeconomicvalueandsubstantialsheriesoccurinseveralNorthAtlanticregionsowingtotheuseofitsfullyripeinternaleggmassesintheovariesasanal-ternative to sturgeon caviar. Despite being intensively shed in severallocations, biological knowledge is limited and no genetic structure infor-mation is available. In this study, the stock structure of C. lumpus was investigated across the North Atlantic using ten microsatellite loci. Outof ten loci, two exhibited higher level of differentiation but their inclusion/exclusion from the analyses did not drastically change the observedgenetic pattern. A total of three distinct genetic groups were detected: Maine–Canada–Greenland, Iceland–Norway and Baltic Sea. Theseresults, discussed in terms of origin of differentiation, gene ow, and selection, showed that gene ow was rather limited among the detectedgroups, and also between Greenland and Maine–Canada.Keywords: gene ow,lumpsh, microsatellite loci, migration, North Atlantic, selection.