Novel microsatellite markers suggest significant genetic isolation in the Eastern Pacific sponge Aplysina gerardogreeni.

Background: The Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) harbors a great diversity of Porifera. In particular, the Aplysina genus has acquired biotechnological and pharmacological importance. Nevertheless, the ecological aspects of their species and populations have been poorly studied.

The complete mitogenome of the Eastern Pacific sponge (Demospongiae, Verongida, Aplysinidae).

We report the first mitochondrial genome of a Verongid sponge, from the Pacific Ocean. This has 19,620 bp and includes 14 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs genes, and 25 tRNAs genes. The gene arrangement was similar to the one found in two Caribbean mitogenomes previously reported.