Commercial sharks under scrutiny: Baseline genetic distinctiveness supports structured populations of small-spotted catsharks in the Mediterranean Sea

Frontiers in Marine Science

Marine Science

Sabrina Lo Brutto¹  Fausto Tinti²  Alessia Cariani²  Alice Ferrari²  Letizia Sion³  Charis Charilaou⁴  Riccardo Melis⁵  Simone Di Crescenzo⁵  Maria Cristina Follesa⁵  Alessandro Cau⁵  Laura Vacca⁵  Laura Carugati⁵  Rita Cannas⁵  Farid Hemida⁶  Sarah Helyar⁷ 

[1] Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy;Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Ravenna, Italy;Department of Biology, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy;Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Nicosia, Cyprus;Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy;Ecole Nationale Supeírieure des Sciences de la Mer et de l’Amenagement du Littoral, Dely Ibrahim, Algiers, Algeria;School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom;

关键词: genetic assessment;    reference baseline;    elasmobranchs;    microsatellites;    Mediterranean Sea;    population structure;    small-spotted catshark;    commercial species;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmars.2023.1050055

 received in 2022-09-21, accepted in 2023-02-07,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The present study, based on microsatellite markers, describes a population genetic analysis of the small-spotted catshark Scyliorhinus canicula (Linnaeus, 1758), representing one of the most abundant and commonly caught cartilaginous fishes in the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent areas. The analyses were performed to unravel the genetic features (variability, connectivity, sex-biased dispersal) of their relative geographic populations, both at the small (around the coast of Sardinia, Western Mediterranean Sea) and at a larger spatial scale (pan-Mediterranean level and between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea). Individual clustering, multivariate and variance analyses rejected the hypothesis of genetic homogeneity, with significant genetic differences mainly within the Mediterranean between the Western and Eastern basins, as well as between the Mediterranean and the NE Atlantic Ocean. In detail, our results seem to confirm that the Strait of Gibraltar could not represent a complete barrier to the exchange of individuals of small-spotted catshark between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In the latter area, a complex genetic structuring for S. canicula was found. Apart from differences among the Western, Eastern and Adriatic sites, within the Western basin the small-spotted catsharks around Sardinian waters are strongly differentiated from all others (both from the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea and southernmost part of the Algerian basin) and are demographically stable. Several possible mechanisms, both biological and abiotic (e.g., migratory behavior, waterfronts, and oceanographic discontinuities), are discussed here to explain their peculiar characteristics. Overall, the genetic data presented, both at the local and regional level, could represent a baseline information, useful for the temporal monitoring of populations, and to assess the effects of present or future fishing/management/conservation measures.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Melis, Vacca, Cariani, Carugati, Cau, Charilaou, Di Crescenzo, Ferrari, Follesa, Hemida, Helyar, Lo Brutto, Sion, Tinti and Cannas