Isolation of microsatellite loci for the predatory fish Hoplias microlepis (Characiformes: Erythrinidae) from a highly impacted river system in western Ecuador

Abstract

We developed 14 polymorphic, dinucleotide microsatellite loci for Hoplias microlepis, a large predatory fish from a highly impacted river in western Ecuador. These were isolated using a next-generation pyrosequencing approach and tested in a sample of 32 fish. None of the loci were in linkage disequilibrium and all appeared to be in Hardy–Weinberg. Nine of the loci exhibited greater variability, having 3–8 alleles (average = 5.22), observed heterozygosities between 0.22 and 0.81 (average = 0.58), and expected heterozygosities between 0.20 and 0.83 (average = 0.56). The other five loci had 2 alleles and heterozygosity values generally close to 0. This is the first study dedicated to isolating microsatellites for a freshwater fish from the highly impacted aquatic ecosystems of western Ecuador.