Genetic differentiation in blue shark, Prionace glauca, from the central Pacific Ocean, as inferred by mitochondrial cytochrome b region.

Six hundred and ninety-seven base pairs of cytochrome b gene of mtDNA was sequenced and analyzed for 78 blue shark Prionace glauca individuals from three sampled locations in the central Pacific Ocean (CPO). In total, three polymorphic sites were detected which defined four haplotypes. The haplotype diversity (h) ranged from 0.517 to 0.768, and nucleotide diversity (pi) was between 0.0007 and 0.0011. Analysis of molecular variance indicated a non-significant differentiation among subpopulations. Furthermore, pairwise F-ST score analysis revealed a non-significant differentiation among three sampled regions. Generally, low genetic differences were found between different geographic locations in the CPO. This study suggests a single panmictic population of P. glauca in the CPO.