Antoni et al: Microsatellite markers for Thunnus atlanticus 
325 
BT47, and BT91, we caution against the use of these 
3 microsatellites for population genetic studies of the 
blackfin tuna. Genotypic frequencies at locus BT27 did 
not depart significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilib- 
rium expectations, but analyses in Micro-Checker in- 
dicated that null alleles may occur at this microsatel- 
lite. This marker, therefore, will need to be evaluated 
further with larger sample sizes to determine its suit- 
ability for studies of population genetics of the black- 
fin tuna. Finally, locus BT71 showed occurrence of rare 
shifts of one base pair (i.e., consecutive alleles differed 
by only one base pair, departing from the expected pat- 
tern of variation at microsatellites). Because of the lim- 
ited resolution of acrylamide gels, the ability to reliably 
score alleles that differ by one base pair is challenging 
and, consequently, this locus may be prone to elevated 
rates of scoring errors. The microsatellite markers de- 
veloped during our study will be available for conduct- 
ing studies of the genetic stock structure of blackfin 
tuna, investigations that are needed to assist in the 
design of management plans for the sustainability of 
this species. 
Acknowledgments 
We thank K. Jones for help with the implementa- 
tion of PAL_FINDER software and C. Pau for assis- 
tance with collection of blackfin tuna specimens. This 
work was supported by the Moored Fish Aggregating 
Device in the Lesser Antilles (MAGDELESA) project 
cofounded by IFREMER and the Fonds europeen de 
developpement regional (FEDER) within the frame- 
work of the INTERREG Caraibes Programme (con- 
tract no. 13/1210870). K. Naghshpour was supported 
by the Tidelands Trust Fund Program of the Missis- 
sippi Department of Marine Resources (award no. S- 
13-RIP-USM/GCRL-01 . Views expressed in this article 
are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect 
views of the sponsors. 
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