ABSTRACT
The mitochondrial DNA control regions of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) from the Gulf of Mexico (n = 140) and Atlantic coast of Florida (n = 35) were sequenced to generate a prestocking genetic baseline for planned stock enhancement. Intrasample haplotype and nucleotide diversities ranged from 0.94 to 1.00 and 1.8% to 2.5%, respectively. All population analyses were consistent with the hypothesis that red snapper constitute a single, panmictic population over the sampled range. A ubiquitous, predominant haplotype, shared by 23% of the specimens, appeared to be evolutionarily recent, in contrast to previous findings based on restriction fragment length polymorphism data. Tajima's D values were suggestive of a recent bottleneck. Mismatch distributions from Gulf samples were smooth and unimodal, characteristic of recent population expansion. However, the Atlantic sample exhibited a comparatively broader, possibly multimodal distribution, suggestive of a more stable population history. Additional control-region data may clarify potentially disparate demographic histories of Gulf and Atlantic snapper.
