Characterization of polymorphic microsatellite markers for the red rock lobster, Jasus edwardsii (Hutton 1875)

Jasus edwardsii is New Zealand's largest seafood export species and supports valuable customary and recreational fisheries. Nine novel microsatellite markers were developed from 454 sequence data and scored across 45 individuals collected from Wellington, New Zealand (41A degrees 20'S, 174A degrees 48'E) to obtain diversity indices. All loci were polymorphic with the number of alleles per locus ranging from 6 to 39. Observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.563-0.937 and from 0.583-0.961, respectively. There were no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for any of the loci examined. Null allele frequencies were low (< 10%) across all loci. These markers are currently being employed to study the genetic structure of J. edwardsii across New Zealand and Australia.