Microsatellite loci for Ponto-Caspian gobies: markers for assessing exotic invasions.

We developed and tested eight polymorphic microsatellite loci for Ponto-Caspian 'neogobiin' gobies, many of which are invasive in Eurasia and North America, whose study will aid understanding of the population genetics underlying their success. We tested samples from one to two locations from 12 taxa in the recently revised genera Babka, Benthophilus, Mesogobius, Neogobius = Apollonia, Ponticola and Proterorhinus; including the bighead, Caspian, knout, monkey, racer, round, tadpole and tubenose gobies; and taxa from introduced vs. native populations, those diverging between fresh and marine waters, and those differentiated between the Black and Caspian Seas. Populations conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations, averaging five to 15 alleles per locus and 0.11 to 0.67 mean heterozygosity. Allelic variation significantly differentiated among all taxa and populations.