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Development of 18 microsatellite markers for the white‐streaked grouper, Epinephelus ongus (Bloch, 1790)
Author(s) -
Nanami A.,
Saitoh K.,
Sekino M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of applied ichthyology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1439-0426
pISSN - 0175-8659
DOI - 10.1111/jai.13234
Subject(s) - grouper , biology , white (mutation) , zoology , fishery , microsatellite , genetics , fish <actinopterygii> , gene , allele
Groupers (family Epinephelidae) are one of the important fisheries targets around the world, especially in tropical and subtropical waters (Levin & Grimes, 2002). The whitestreaked grouper Epinephelus ongus (Bloch, 1790) is an epinephelid species inhabiting coral reefs. This species forms spawning aggregates at particular spawning grounds on specific dates empirically known to local fishermen, enabling the intensive capture of the reproductive stock (Ohta & Ebisawa, 2009). In the Okinawan region, Japan, the spawning aggregations of E. ongus are formed around the last quarter of the moon in April and/or May (Nanami, Ohta, & Sato, 2015; Nanami, Sato, Ohta, Akita, & Suzuki, 2013; Nanami et al., 2014; Ohta & Ebisawa, 2015). The annual catch of E. ongus in the Okinawan region has declined recently, probably due to intensive fishing of the spawning aggregations (Ohta & Ebisawa, 2009), thus an effective management thereof is required. From the viewpoint of conservation genetics, losses in their genetic diversity are of concern. However, little is known about the genetic makeup of E. ongus populations; in the present study, microsatellite markers were developed as a tool to monitor their genetic population diversity.