The genetic structure of Pike Esox lucius Linnaeus 1758 in the Southeast of the Caspian Sea, using microsatellite markers

Esox lucius Linnaeus1758 is one of the economically valuable species of Caspian Sea. Genetic diversity of marine resources is of vital importance in their management and protection. Considering the lack of information about genetic differences this species; seven microsatellite loci were used for 90 sample analyses. The results showed conspicuous genetic variation in regions using Fst, AMOVA and a relatively high level of gene flow was found among populations. The average observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.383 and 0.622, respectively. Assessment of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium showed that all samples of studied tests were significantly deviated from H-W equilibrium (p ≤ 0.05). Results show evidences for genetic bottleneck in the populations. Graphical cluster represents a distinct molecular variance test, there are three distinct and separate population in the three areas that should be considered in the management of these reserves.