Genetic diversity of Black Pomfret (Parastromateus niger) in Iranian coasts of Persian Gulf using AFLP molecular marker

Black Pomfret (Parastromateus niger) is one of the commercially important pelagic fishes of the southern coasts of Iran. Its stocks are decreasing due to over exploitation, pollution and lack of fishing management programs. In order to assess the population size of this species and to preserve its valuable genetic resources, genetic structure of 32 fish samples was investigated using AFLP markersin Bandar Abbas, Bushehr and Abadan locations from coastal waters of the Persian Gulf. The results showed a total of 205 AFLP bands of which 37 bands were polymorph. The percentage of polymorphic loci in samples of Bandar Abbas (81.08%) was low compared to Bushehr (94.59%) and Abadan samples (86.49%). Nei’s genetic diversity and Shannon’s index were lowest and highest in Bandar Abbas and Bushehr populations, respectively. AMOVA revealed that 86% of genetic variations were within populations and 14% among them. With regard to the amount of Fst (0.09- 0.18) and limited gene flow (1.09- 2.54) between populations, it can be concluded that there is probably three different populations of black Pomfret in Bandar Abbas, Bushehr and Abadan locationsin Persian Gulf.