Abstract

Because of its long-lived planktonic stage, the marine gastropod Concholepas concholepas is expected to exchange larvae over large distances. However, discrepancies between expected and realized dispersal have been documented in marine invertebrates. To investigate relationships between potential and effective (i.e. gene flow) dispersal, we developed 11 microsatellite markers and investigate their usefulness by analysing two populations distant by c. 4000 km. The 11 loci were found to be highly polymorphic in both populations, with 12-51 alleles according to the locus. This polymorphism is strong enough to allow fine-scale population analyses including larval studies and paternity analyses. © 2006 The Authors.