Six microsatellite loci from the deep-sea coral Corallium lauuense (Octocorallia: Coralliidae) from the islands and seamounts of the Hawaiian archipelago

Gorgonian octocorals are among the dominant deep-sea benthic taxa of many seamounts. Seamount fauna are threatened by destructive fisheries practices, yet little is known about the physical and biological processes that maintain species on seamounts. Few informative molecular markers have been found in deep-water corals or in gorgonian octocorals. Here we report the characterization of six highly polymorphic microsatellite loci for the deep-sea precious coral Corallium lauuense from Hawaii using enriched genomic DNA libraries. These loci are being used to examine gene flow and stock structure among seamount and island populations to better understand dispersal and connectivity of seamount species.