Population Genomics Reveals the Underlying Structure of the Small Pelagic European Sardine and Suggests Low Connectivity within Macaronesia.

ABSTRACT: The European sardine (Sardina pilchardus, Walbaum 1792) is indisputably a commercially important species. Previous studies using uneven sampling or a limited number of makers have presented sometimes conflicting evidence of the genetic structure of S. pilchardus populations. Here, we show that whole genome data from 108 individuals from 16 sampling areas across 5000 km of the species' distribution range (from the Eastern Mediterranean to the archipelago of Azores) support at least three genetic clusters. One includes individuals from Azores and Madeira, with evidence of substructure separating these two archipelagos in the Atlantic. Another cluster broadly corresponds to the center of the distribution, including the sampling sites around Iberia, separated by the Almeria-Oran

SUBMITTER: da Fonseca RR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10888339 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature