Heterologous microsatellites reveal moderate genetic structure in the Octopus maya population

The Mexican four eyed octopus Octopus maya is an endemic species of the Yucatan Peninsula, and supports an important fishery. No divergent stocks have been identified and so at present this species has been managed as a single homogeneous population. To contribute to management optimization of the fishery, through the identification of genetically variable stocks, we investigated the variability of four microsatellite loci in samples of O. maya individuals from three localities in the Yucatan Peninsula: (1) Seybaplaya in the State of Campeche; (2) Sisal and (3) El Cuyo in the State of Yucatan. We calculated FST and FIS indices, checked for departures from Hardy–Weinberg (H–W) equilibrium expectations within localities, and calculated Nei genetic distances between localities. Average FIS was −0.026, although animals from El Cuyo showed positive values. In addition, animals from El Cuyo showed heterozygote deficits in two loci and some inbreeding, while those from Sisal and Seybaplaya were in H–W equilibrium. Genetic distances between animals from different localities ranged from 1.9 to 5.5%, larger than those previously calculated from allozyme data. Although these results are preliminary with respect to a potential modification of the fishery management regime, they support the idea that, to a certain extent, animals from different localities differ genetically. This calls for wider population surveys, using species-specific microsatellites.