UC Santa Cruz

Twelve microsatellite markers (six di-nucleotides, four tri-nucleotides and two tetra-nucleotides) were isolated and characterized for Callinectes bellicosus, a commercial crustacean species from the Gulf of California, Mexico. One locus was monomorphic and 11 loci were polymorphic in 32 individual samples from a single location. Overall polymorphic loci, the number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 24 (average 10.0), the observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.094 to 0.969 (average 0.603), and the expected heterozygosity varied from 0.089 to 0.935 (average 0.597). One locus deviated significantly from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium due to an excess of heterozygotes, while another locus showed evidence for the presence of a null allele. No evidence of linkage disequilibrium was found among pair of loci. These markers will be helpful to estimate the level of genetic connectivity over a small spatial and temporal scale in order to identify stocks for the management of this small-scale fishery in the Gulf of California.