Genetic connectivity between Atlantic bluefin tuna larvae spawned in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Mediterranean Sea.

ABSTRACT: The highly migratory Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABFT) is currently managed as two distinct stocks, in accordance with natal homing behavior and population structuring despite the absence of barriers to gene flow. Larval fish are valuable biological material for tuna molecular ecology. However, they have hardly been used to decipher the ABFT population structure, although providing the genetic signal from successful breeders. For the first time, cooperative field collection of tuna larvae during 2014 in the main spawning area for each stock, the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and the Mediterranean Sea (MED), enabled us to assess the ABFT genetic structure in a precise temporal and spatial frame exclusively through larvae. Partitioning of genetic diversity at nuclear microsatellite loci and in the mitocho

SUBMITTER: Johnstone C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8210807 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature