Genetic population structure of the Swordfish ( Xiphias gladius) in the southwest Indian Ocean: Sex-biased differentiation, congruency between markers and its incidence in a way of stock assessment

Abstract

Genetic variation was surveyed at 11 microsatellite loci and at 517 bp of the mitochondrial control region to investigate the presence of genetic stock structure in swordfish ( Xiphias gladius) in four proximal localities of the southwest Indian Ocean. One aim of this study was to serve as a preliminary examination for congruency of structure detected by these two genetic markers, prior to conducting a more comprehensive basin-wide survey of the Indian Ocean and nearby surrounding areas. Analyses of multilocus microsatellite genotypes and mitochondrial control region sequences both revealed a great homogeneity between samples. Genetic diversity detected at the regional scale was not significantly higher than detected at the local scale. Results suggest that the southwest Indian Ocean globally functions as a unique panmictic population. However, some discrete genetic differences appeared that could possibly indicate influence from a second genetic pool in the northern part of the Indian Ocean. This structure appeared to be sex-dependent with genetic differences higher among female than among male samples. This result may indicate a higher level of spawning area fidelity for females with a subsequent sampling bias tending to homogenise male genotypic distributions.