Meeting Abstract
Astrotoma agassizii is a brittle star known to occur in both the Southern Ocean and the waters surrounding southern South America. Although described as a brooder from South America, lecithotrophic larvae have been recovered in the Southern Ocean. In this study, genetic connectivity between the Southern Ocean and South America is investigated along with phylogeography within each region. These genetic analyses were performed using a nuclear Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) based approach, 2b-RAD, in addition to mtDNA markers, COII and 16S. Sampling includes individuals from the Argentinian waters of South America and a geographic range from the Ross Sea spanning through the western Weddell Sea (> 5,000 km) for the Southern Ocean. Analyses revealed that the Antarctic Polar Front serves as an imperfect barrier to dispersal. Although phylogeographic patterns reveal structure, unique South American haplotypes are recovered by the Antarctic Peninsula.
