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Microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA analyses of the genetic structure of blacktip shark ( Carcharhinus limbatus ) nurseries in the northwestern Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea
Author(s) -
KEENEY D. B.,
HEUPEL M. R.,
HUETER R. E.,
HEIST E. J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2005.02549.x
Subject(s) - carcharhinus , philopatry , biology , genetic structure , microsatellite , mitochondrial dna , fishery , range (aeronautics) , ecology , biological dispersal , genetic variation , population , biochemistry , allele , materials science , demography , sociology , gene , composite material
We investigated the genetic structure of blacktip shark ( Carcharhinus limbatus ) continental nurseries in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea using mitochondrial DNA control region sequences and eight nuclear microsatellite loci scored in neonate and young‐of‐the‐year sharks. Significant structure was detected with both markers among nine nurseries (mitochondrial Φ ST = 0.350, P < 0.001; nuclear Φ ST = 0.007, P < 0.001) and sharks from the northwestern Atlantic, eastern Gulf of Mexico, western Gulf of Mexico, northern Yucatan, and Belize possessed significantly different mitochondrial DNA haplotype frequencies. Microsatellite differentiation was limited to comparisons involving northern Yucatan and Belize sharks with nuclear genetic homogeneity throughout the eastern Gulf of Mexico, western Gulf of Mexico, and northwestern Atlantic. Differences in the magnitude of maternal vs. biparental genetic differentiation support female philopatry to northwestern Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea natal nursery regions with higher levels of male‐mediated gene flow. Philopatry has produced multiple reproductive stocks of this commercially important shark species throughout the range of this study.