Abstract
In contrast to freshwater fish it is presumed that marine fish are unlikely to spawn with close relatives due to the dilution effect of large breeding populations and their propensity for movement and reproductive mixing. Inbreeding is therefore not typically a focal concern of marine fish management. We measured the effective number of breeders in 6 New York estuaries for winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), a formerly abundant fish, using 11 microsatellite markers (6–56 alleles per locus). The effective number of breeders for 1–2 years was remarkably small, with point estimates ranging from 65–289 individuals. Excess homozygosity was detected at 10 loci in all bays (FIS = 0.169–0.283) and individuals exhibited high average internal relatedness (IR; mean = 0.226). These both indicate that inbreeding is very common in all bays, after testing for and ruling out alternative explanations such as technical and sampling artifacts. This study demonstrates that even historically common marine fish can be prone to inbreeding, a factor that should be considered in fisheries management and conservation plans.
Highlights
Et al [1] defined three levels of biodiversity: ecosystem diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity
While ecosystem diversity describes the differences of habitats and environmental parameters that shape communities, species diversity describes the variety and abundance of organisms inhabiting a certain area and genetic diversity focuses on the combination and variation of genes found within a single population of one species
Since marine fish are traditionally assumed to exist as large, panmictic populations connected by larval and adultmediated dispersal [8,9,10] it is not suprising that conservation of genetic diversity is not emphasized in marine fish conservation [2,11]
Summary
Et al [1] defined three levels of biodiversity: ecosystem diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity. Despite having a relatively large census population size, plaice tend to spawn in their natal area and have high variance in reproductive success, increasing the probability that spawning pairs or groups will contain related individuals Despite this remarkable finding, there have been few follow-up studies of inbreeding in marine fish, even though heterozygote deficiencies have been detected in many other species, including redfin culter (Culter erythropterus) [14], anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) [15], rockfish (Sebastes melanops) [19] and whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) [20]. It is difficult to determine whether inbreeding in plaice is an anomaly or a process that should be of broader conservation concern for heavily exploited marine fish
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