Meeting Abstract

P3-70  Sunday, Jan. 6 15:30 – 17:30  Genetic Differentiation in the Giant Caribbean Sea Anemone Condylactis gigantea in Florida, U.S. SHERIDAN, NE*; SEYOUM, S; TITUS, BM; DALY, M; SCHREY, A; RICHARDS, C; Univ. of South Florida, Tampa; Florida Fish and Wildlife Consv. Comm., St. Petersburg; The American Museum of Natural History, New York; The Ohio State Univ., Columbus; Georgia Southern Univ., Savannah; Univ. of South Florida, Tampa nsherida@mail.usf.edu

Condylactis gigantea is an ecologically important member of benthic habitats in Florida. It serves as a host to many species, including cleaner shrimp, and is recognized by many reef fishes as a cleaning station indicator. This phenotypically diverse anemone is considered a single species throughout the Tropical Western Atlantic, but the genetic population structure has not been examined throughout most of its range. Investigating structure may reveal subdivided populations that could be evolving independently. Therefore, to assess structure, we collected tentacle samples from 250 individuals at 7 locations and used restriction site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) as well as nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequencing. Initial analyses of the RADseq data suggest two clusters with partial geographic partitioning and some admixture. Individuals in the Dry Tortugas, Upper Florida Keys, and Biscayne Bay were genetically differentiated from individuals in the Lower Florida Keys. The two clusters co-occur in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, west of Key West, and the Middle Florida Keys. Mitochondrial DNA sequences were invariant. Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) analysis supports two clusters with admixture, but not similar geographic partitioning. Here, we detected two clusters co-occurring in all locations, which is concordant with prior results from Jamaica. The discordance between the results could be due to a more robust signal provided by the large number of RADseq loci compared to the rDNA.