Development of novel microsatellite markers in the Korean rockfish Sebastes schlegeli

The Korean rockfish Sebastes schlegeli is a valuable recreational and commercial fish in China, and is cultured in land-based tanks and net cages. Fifteen microsatellite markers were developed for this species, and their polymorphisms were examined in a population. The allele number of the 15 markers ranged from 2 to 13, with an average of 5.933 per locus. The observed and expected heterozygosity values ranged from 0.063 to 0.938 (averaging 0.585), and 0.062 to 0.908 (averaging 0.642), respectively. Thirteen loci were at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), whereas the other two significantly deviated from the HWE after a Bonferroni's correction. No significant linkage disequilibrium was detected between the comparisons of these loci. These markers are useful for studies of population genetics, linkage mapping, and other relevant studies on S. schlegeli.