Spatial structuring of silver pomfret Pampus candidus in Northern Indian Ocean using microsatellite DNA

Silver pomfrets are spread along the Indo-West Pacific: from the Persian Gulf to Indonesia, Japan, West and Southwest of Korea and Eastern parts of China and forms a commercial fishery in all these countries. For formulating fishery management strategy of the silver pomfret, accurate population information is necessary. The genetic stock structure of silver pomfret in the Northern Indian Ocean was explored using 12 polymorphic microsatellite markers. Morphological and molecular studies confirmed that the silver pomfrets along the Northern Indian Ocean is Pampus candidus. Pampus candidus populations along Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal region (FST =0.049, P <0.05) using microsatellite data revealed significant genetic differentiation which was further supported by multi-locus distance matrix testing (Principal Co-ordinate Analysis) and model-based clustering. The results indicate that there are three distinct genetic stocks of silver pomfret within the study area.