Isolation and characterization of twelve microsatellite loci for rockfish (Sebastes)

We describe the first microsatellites for rockfishes in the diverse genus S ebastes. Clones containing microsatellites were isolated from the genomic l ibrary of a quillback rockfish, Sebastes maliger. Twelve microsatellites ar e characterized; six of these are polymorphic in quillback rockfish, and ei ght are polymorphic in at least one rockfish species on which they were tes ted. The number of alleles per variable locus ranged from 4 to 15 and avera ged 6.8. The expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.38 to 0.79 and average d 0.60 in these loci. These loci should prove valuable in studies examining species identification, population genetics, hybridization, paternity, kin ship, and microsatellite evolution.