Abstract
ABSTRACTThe Caribbean king crab Maguimithrax spinosissimus is an important artisanal fisheries resource with a distribution range that includes the Florida Keys and Caribbean Sea islands. We carried out a phylogeographic analysis of M. spinosissimus in one oceanic (Old Providence) and two continental islands (Rosario and Tintipán). We analysed 89 and 49 Control Region (CR) and Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) sequences, respectively. We found genetic differentiation between Old Providence and Rosario + Tintipán units (FST values of 0.84 for CR and 0.91 for COI gene), and gene flow between Rosario and Tintipán (FST values −0.0085 for CR, P > .88; −0.01 for COI gene, P > .99). Our analysis showed two genetic stocks and possibly an isolated biogeographic unit of M. spinosissimus. We suggest managing the species as different populations, and conducting more ecological and biological studies for the determination of possible cryptic species.
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