Data from: Replicate divergence between and within sounds in a marine fish: the copper rockfish (Sebastes caurinus)

Heterozygosity, allelic richness, and estimates of effective population size were also consistently lower in head of inlet sites than in coast sites. Bayesian analysis of population structure identified two genetic groups across all samples, a single genetic group amongst only coast samples, two genetic groups amongst head of inlet samples, and two genetic groups within each sound analysed separately. Head of inlet copper rockfish were also consistently shorter with lower condition factors, and grew more slowly than fish collected from coast sites.

Our results implicate coast- head of inlet habitat transitions in driving the evolution of population structure, likely resulting from reduced physical connectivity and selection against immigrants in contrasting environments. Coast sites appear to be well served by existing marine protected areas. By contrast, head of inlet sites may require more specific local conservation measures as they appear to be less well connected to adjacent coast sites as well as to each other.

Usage notes copperdata Microsatellite DNA allele frequencies at 17 loci. Data are in base pairs and in CONVERT format