Genetic structure in the coral-reef-associated Banggai cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni

In this study, we used 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci to show that oceanic distances as small as 2-5 km are sufficient to produce high levels of population genetic structure (multilocus F-ST as high as 0.22) in the Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni), a heavily exploited reef fish lacking a pelagic larval dispersal phase. Global F-ST among all populations, separated by a maximum distance of 203 km, was 0.18 (R-ST = 0.35). Moreover, two lines of evidence suggest that estimates of F-ST may actually underestimate the true level of genetic structure. First, within-locus F-ST values were consistently close to the theoretical maximum set by the average within-population heterozygosity. Second, the allele size permutation test showed that R-ST values were significantly larger than F-ST values, indicating that populations have been isolated long enough for mutation to have played a role in generating allelic variation among populations. The high level of microspatial structure observed in this marine fish indicates that life history traits such as lack of pelagic larval phase and a good homing ability do indeed play a role in shaping population genetic structure in the marine realm.