Abras, AlbaGarcía Marín, José LuisHeras, SandraAgulló, MelaniaVera Rodríguez, ManuelPlanella, LaiaRoldán, María Inés2024-02-082024-02-082022Abras, A., García-Marín, J., Heras, S., Agulló, M., Vera, M., Planella, L., & Roldán, M. I. (2022). Genetic demography of the blue and red shrimp, aristeus antennatus: A female-based case study integrating multilocus genotyping and morphometric data. Genes, 13(7), 1186. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13071186http://hdl.handle.net/10347/32570In this study, we quantified the three key biological processes, growth, recruitment, and dispersal pattern, which are necessary for a better understanding of the population dynamics of the blue and red shrimp Aristeus antennatus. This marine exploited crustacean shows sex-related distribution along the water column, being females predominate in the middle slope. The present study attempts to fill the existing gap in the females’ genetic demography, as scarce knowledge is available despite being the most abundant sex in catches. We analyzed morphometric data and genotyped 12 microsatellite loci in 665 A. antennatus females collected in two consecutive seasons, winter and summer 2016, at the main Mediterranean fishing ground as a model. Almost every female in summer was inseminated. Five modal groups were observed in both seasons, from 0+ to 4+ in winter and from 1+ to 5+ in summer. Commercial-sized sorting based on fishermen’s experience resulted in a moderate-to-high assertive method concerning cohort determination. Genetic data pointed out females’ horizontal movement between neighboring fishing grounds, explaining the low genetic divergence detected among western Mediterranean grounds. Our results could represent critical information for the future implementation of management measures to ensure long-time conservation of the A. antennatus populationseng© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Genetic demographyHorizontalmovementMicrosatellite lociRecruitmentAristeus antennatusDeep-sea shrimpjournal article10.3390/genes130711862073-4425open access