TECHNICAL NOTE Development and characterization of fifteen novel microsatellite loci for the Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) and their utility for cross-amplification on a suite of closely related species A. M. Bernard • K. A. Feldheim • V. P. Richards • R. S. Nemeth • M. S. Shivji Received: 28 May 2012 / Accepted: 5 June 2012 / Published online: 17 June 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), a severely overexploited and endangered coral reef fish in the Western Atlantic, is in urgent need of conservation and management measures. We report the development and characterization of 15 polymorphic, mostly tetranucleotide microsatellite loci based on 40 Nassau grouper samples collected from two Caribbean spawning aggregations. The number of alleles per locus and expected heterozygosities ranged from 4 to 19 and 0.40 to 0.92, respectively. We also demonstrate the cross-amplification utility of these micro- satellites for genetic studies of five other grouper species of conservation interest. Keywords Grouper genetics  Grouper conservation  Serranidae  Epinephelus  Mycteroperca The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) has undergone widespread declines across its Western Atlantic distribu- tion (Sadovy De Mitcheson et al. 2008). Historically, this species is known to have formed massive spawning aggregations consisting of thousands of individuals in parts of its range (Smith 1972). Due to high levels of fishing in these aggregations, contemporary estimates suggest that only 40 % of historical aggregations remain and that the remaining aggregations contain relatively few individuals (100–3,000 fish) (Sadovy De Mitcheson et al. 2008). Given these large declines, the species has been listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN (International Union for Con- servation of Nature and Natural Resources) Red List since 1996 (Cornish and Eklund 2003). Because of its dire conservation status, there is an urgent need for information on the population dynamics of this species, including genetic connectivity, to inform conservation efforts. Here, we develop 15 microsatellite loci for Nassau grouper to assist genetic studies, and test the amplification utility of these markers on five closely related grouper species of conservation interest. Forty Nassau grouper were sampled from two locations within the Caribbean: Little Cayman, Cayman Islands (n = 20) and Grammanik Bank, United States Virgin Islands (USVI) (n = 20). Tissue samples were stored in Sarcosyl-Urea (Little Cayman) or 95 % ethanol (USVI) until genomic DNA extraction using the DNeasy Kit (Qiagen). Microsatellite markers were developed using the enrichment protocol of Glenn and Schable (2005). Geno- mic DNA (gDNA) from a single individual was digested A. M. Bernard  V. P. Richards  M. S. Shivji (&) National Coral Reef Institute, Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeastern University, 8000 North Ocean Drive, Dania Beach, FL 33004, USA e-mail: mahmood@nova.edu A. M. Bernard  V. P. Richards  M. S. Shivji Guy Harvey Research Institute, Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeastern University, 8000 North Ocean Drive, Dania Beach, FL 33004, USA K. A. Feldheim The Field Museum of Natural History, Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA Present Address: V. P. Richards Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA R. S. Nemeth Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, USVI 00802, USA 123 Conservation Genet Resour (2012) 4:983–986 DOI 10.1007/s12686-012-9688-4