Abstract
In this study, the population genetic structure and historical demography of the blue swimming crab, Portunus pelagicus, from southeastern sea of China were investigated using cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of mitochondrion. A total of 889 bp segment of COI gene was sequenced, which showed a high haplotype diversity (0.6833–0.8142) and low nucleotide diversity (0.0021–0.0034). Among 30 haplotypes defined in this study, one (H1) was the most dominant (47.7%) and shared by each locality, while the majority (23) were rare and only existed in one individual. The AMOVA analysis revealed a limited population genetic structure, which suggested a high level of gene flow along the distribution areas of China. This conclusion was supported by the pairwise FST comparison values. The topology of the neighbour-joining tree constructed using 30 haplotypes from four localities presented two distinct clades (clade A and clade B). Meanwhile, three sequences of P. pelagicus downloaded from NCBI database showed a high-level divergence with the individuals collected in our study, which might form a new cryptical species. The individuals of clade B were cryptically embedded in the whole population, with a low frequency (7.7–24.2%), while clade A accounted for 75.8–92.3%. Neutrality tests and mismatch analyses suggested a late Pleistocene population expansion for both clade A (47,000–66,000 years ago) and clade B (74,000–100,000 years ago). This study should provide insight into phylogeny, population genetic structure, conservation genetics, and sustainable management of P. pelagicus.
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