Population genomics of an Octopus species identify oceanographic barriers and inbreeding patterns: Demultiplexed reads of 71 Octopus insularis individuals

Coastal marine ecosystems are highly productive and important for global fisheries. To mitigate over-exploitation and to establish efficient conservation management plans for species of economic interest, it is necessary to identify the oceanographic barriers that condition divergence and gene flow between populations with those species, and that determine their relative amounts of genetic variability. Here, we present the first population genomic study of an Octopus species, Octopus insularis, which was described in 2008 and is distributed in coastal and oceanic island habitats in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Using genomic data, we identify the South Equatorial current as the main barrier to gene flow between southern and northern parts of the range, followed by discontinuities in the habitat associated with depth. We find that genetic diversity of insular populations significantly decreases after colonization from the continental shelf, also refle...