Characterisation of thirteen polymorphic microsatellite markers for the red sea urchin Heliocidaris tuberculata (Lamarck, 1816) developed using a 454-sequencing approach

The sea urchin Heliocidaris tuberculata, is valued by commercial fisheries because of the high quality of its roe. Declines in abundance following a peak in the Australian fishery around the millennium, suggests that recruitment and hence the subsequent recovery of populations in this species, may be low. Despite this, because of its high commercial value the species continues to be exploited with little knowledge of sources and sinks for recruits between populations. Following nuclear microsatellite identification using a 454-sequencing approach, a set of 13 novel markers were optimised for H. tuberculata. The loci show clear banding patterns, with 2–14 alleles per locus and observed heterozygosity values ranging from 0.12 to 0.73. These markers will be used to assess genetic diversity and connectivity between populations across the geographical range of the species.