Development of metabolic-process EST-SSR PCR primers within the bocaccio rockfish Sebastes paucispinis

The bocaccio rockfish has historically supported an important fishery on the west coast of North America, and experienced a severe population collapse in the past several decades. Here we report development of 13 EST-SSR PCR primer pairs developed from previously published Sebastes EST databases. All loci are involved in metabolic processes. Diversity in a collection of bocaccio rockfish from off central California ranged from 2 to 17 alleles, with heterozygosities of 0.24–0.92. The loci will be informative in further resolving stock structure issues and possible local adaptation along the species’ broad latitudinal range.