Analysis of population structure and connectivity of Octopus mimus in the Eastern Pacific. Connectivity Eastern Pacific

The species O. mimus is distributed along the Southeast Pacific Ocean from northern Peru to central Chile. However, regarding recent studies, the distribution of this species is not yet fully known. Octopus mimus has been related to O. hubbsorum from Mexico, probably being the same species, and some individuals in Ecuador were genetically identified as O. mimus. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse the population structure and determinate connectivity among O. mimus population in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.Arm tips of 134 Individuals of O. mimus were collected by the Marine Institute of Peru (IMARPE) along the Peruvian coast. DNA was extracted using the salting-out method and PCR was done using universal COI primers (HCO2198 and LCO1490). A Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was performed, with COI reference sequences of Octopus sp. and Octopus mimus. Futhermore, Haplotype and genetic diversity were analysed, as a neutrality test and mismatch distribution. Finally, a haplotype network and AMOVAs were performed.