Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellites in a sex‐reversal fish, rice field eel (<i>Monopterus albus</i>)

Abstract

Abstract The rice field eel ( Monopterus albus ) is a fish of economic importance in China and some Asian countries. From a (GT) n ‐enriched genomic library, 30 microsatellites were developed by employing the fast isolation by AFLP of sequences containing repeats (FIASCO) protocol. Thirteen loci exhibited polymorphism with two to 13 alleles (mean 7.9 alleles/locus) in a test population and observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.3125 to 0.9688 (mean 0.7140). These loci should provide sufficient level of genetic variation to study the fine‐scale population structure and reproductive ecology of the species.