Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the Australian smelt, Retropinna semoni

Five polymorphic microsatellite loci were isolated from the Australian smelt, Retropinna semoni, in order to study levels of connectivity among populations at various spatial scales. Screening of one natural population (n = 30) from central Victoria, southeastern Australia, yielded nine to 14 alleles per locus with observed levels of heterozygosity ranging from 0.40 to 0.80. All loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium after Bonferroni correction for multiple tests. These loci should provide a useful tool in further understanding the population genetics of this species.