Simenchelys parasitica MIG-seq project

Deep-sea mining of hydrothermal deposits off the coast of Japan is currently under consideration, and environmental baseline studies of the area are required to understand possible impacts. The aim of this study is to clarify population structures of dominant benthic megafaunal species living outside of the inactive hydrothermal vents in the Okinawa Trough, using a population genetics approach. We examined a dominant deep-sea scavenging synaphobranchid eel Simenchelys parasitica based on a single nucleotide polymorphism analysis. Several locations were sampled within Okinawa Trough to examine intra-population diversity while two other locations 1400-2400 km away were chosen for inter-population comparisons.