Haimei Wang , Liting Wang

Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 5   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2025.15.0025
Received: 20 Aug., 2025    Accepted: 12 Oct., 2025    Published: 25 Oct., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wang H.M., and Wang L.T., 2025, Genetic variation in growth traits of Scomberomorus spp. under selective breeding: a case study in hainan waters, International Journal of Marine Science, 15(5): 277-286 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2025.15.0025)

Scomberomorus spp. is one of the important economic fishes in China's offshore fisheries and aquaculture industries, but its wild population resources are under pressure from overfishing and environmental changes. Improve the growth performance of mackerels through selective breeding is expected to improve breeding efficiency and alleviate their dependence on wild resources. This study takes mackerel in Hainan as an example to analyze the genetic variation characteristics of growth traits (including body length, weight and growth rate) and the selection of breeding effects. The results show that the main growth trait of mackerel has a moderate level of heritability, and the selected breeding population exhibits faster growth rates and higher weight genetic gain relative to the natural population. At the same time, the genetic gain of different breeding generations shows a decreasing trend, showing that the impact of continuous selection on genetic variation needs attention. Case studies show that selective breeding strategies based on genetic parameter evaluation can effectively improve the growth traits of mackerels and provide practical basis for regional seawater fish breeding. This study provides scientific reference for the cultivation of mackerel species and the sustainable use of marine fishery resources in Hainan and other regions.

Mackerel; Breeding selection; Growth traits; Genetic variation; Hainan