Substantial gene flow caused by long‐term translocation between natural bank populations of the Peruvian scallop ( Argopecten purpuratus ) is supported by RAD‐Seq analyses

Abstract The Peruvian scallop ( Argopecten purpuratus, Lamarck 1989) is a marine bivalve of high commercial value in the aquaculture industry, with wild populations distributing from northern Peru to Chile. Growing demand for it world markets and limited availability hatchery‐based seeds caused long‐term seed translocations among recover depleted local production needs. We investigated translocation effects on genetic diversity structure using next‐generation RAD sequencing. sampled individuals Sechura, Lobos de Tierra, Samanco, Bahia Independencia Peru, La Rinconada Northern identified 8,345 polymorphic loci 24,218 SNPs five populations. estimated observed heterozygosity all SNP frequency compared similar studies bivalves. detected no spatial divergence (pairwise F ST 0 0.003), but strong differentiation population Migration rate estimates suggested asymmetric directionality translocation. Overall, our results support remnant effect an intense historic ongoing gene flow challenging identification outlier certification sustainable origin cultured scallops markers.