Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite markers for Eupleurogrammus muticus

We report the first batch of polymorphic microsatellite markers for smallhead hairtail, Eupleurogrammus muticus, a near-threatened ribbonfish which is widely distributed, little managed, and heavily fished throughout the Indo-West Pacific. The number of alleles ranged from 4 to 10. No evidence of linkage disequilibrium was found among loci, but two of the loci showed significant departure from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. These microsatellite loci will be useful for assessing population genetic structure and monitoring genetic diversity of the species.