Lack of genetic heterogeneity in the Japanese eel based on a spatiotemporal sampling

To determine the population structure of the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica, both geographic and temporal genetic variations in a total of 724 of newly recruited glass eels were investigated using six microsatellite loci. F-statistics found no significant genetic difference among nine localities covering the species range (FST=-0.0091-0.0207, RST=-0.0086-0.0207, P>0.05). No inter- or intra-annual changes in genetic variation were observed in pairwise comparisons of F-statistics (FST=-0.0054-0.0108, RST=-0.0143-0.0401, P>0.05) and AMOVA (FCT=0.0009, P>0.05), respectively. The results of the present study showed that the Japanese eel consists of a genetically homogeneous population in time and space. This information will be helpful for planning efficient stock management and conservation of this species