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While many studies have investigated connectivity and subdivision in
marine fish occupying tropical, shallow water reef habitats, relatively
few have been conducted on commercially important deep-water species in
the Indo-Pacific region. Here, we examine spatial and temporal genetic
variation in the deep-water oblique-banded snapper Pristipomoides zonatus,
collected from eight locations across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. A
total of 292 individuals were screened for genetic variation at six
nuclear microsatellite loci and the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI)
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene. There was evidence of low, but significant
genetic differentiation between ocean basins (FCT = 0.009) and no
significant divergences between sites within oceans. The lack of
population structure within ocean basins suggests P. zonatus has a long
pelagic larval duration with high levels of connectivity between
populations over large geographical distances (>2000 km). There was
no evidence of temporal variation in allele frequencies within
populations. However, ephemeral genetic divergences between sites were
detected, along with a significant reduction in genetic diversity at one
site, suggesting there may be low effective population sizes (Ne). Our
results suggest that localized declines in genetic diversity could be
offset by gene flow from other locations within ocean basins, though
predicting the broader impacts of localized stock depletions requires
further understanding of recruitment dynamics and life history
characteristics of the species.
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