Seamounts and oceanic currents are important oceanographic features that influence genetic diversity of a species along its distribution, acting both as barriers or pathways for species dispersal. There are two important seamount chains in the Tropical Western Atlantic (TWA): the Fernando de Noronha Chain in northeastern Brazil and the Vitória-Trindade Chain in southeastern Brazil. This region is influenced by the North and South branches of the Southern Equatorial Current (SEC), which flow from the east to west. In order to evaluate how these oceanographic characteristics influence the genetic diversity and population structure of O. insularis along its broad distribution area, we analyzed specimens from sampling sites of the Brazilian coast and oceanic islands, Ascension and Saint Helena archipelago, Mexican Caribbean, and San Blas, Panama. The analyses performed using fragments of 659 bp of the mitochondrial gene (cox1) showed the occurrence of four distinct populations: one from Caribbean to Fernando de Noronha archipelago (Central-North), another from east coast of Brazil to Trindade archipelago (South), and the others restricted to Ascension and Saint Helena, and São Pedro and São Paulo archipelagos, respectively. Both the seamounts and ocean currents contributed to the genetic structure observed along O. insularis distribution. The bifurcation of the SEC seems to separate Center-North and South populations, while the gene flow within oceanic islands and the coast in each population is explained by the existence of seamounts. Since O. insularis has a broad distribution (mainly the Center-North population) divided into four genetically distinct fisheries, the species fishery needs to be managed accordingly, which might depend on the international policies agreements.

海山和洋流是重要的海洋学特征，会影响物种分布沿线的遗传多样性，既是物种扩散的屏障，也是物种传播的途径。热带西大西洋（TWA）有两条重要的海山链：巴西东北部的费尔南多·德诺罗尼亚海链和巴西东南部的维多利亚-特林达德海链。该地区受到南赤道洋流 (SEC) 的南北分支的影响，从东向西流动。为了评估这些海洋学特征如何影响O. insularis的遗传多样性和种群结构沿着其广阔的分布区域，我们分析了来自巴西海岸和海洋岛屿、阿森松岛和圣赫勒拿群岛、墨西哥加勒比海以及巴拿马圣布拉斯的采样点的标本。使用线粒体基因 ( cox1 )的 659 bp 片段进行的分析显示存在四个不同的种群：一个从加勒比海到费尔南多·德诺罗尼亚群岛（中北部），另一个从巴西东海岸到特林达德群岛（南部），其他地区分别限于阿森松岛和圣赫勒拿岛，以及圣佩德罗群岛和圣保罗群岛。海山和洋流都促成了沿O. insularis观察到的遗传结构分配。SEC 的分叉似乎将中北部和南部种群分开，而每个种群中海洋岛屿和海岸内的基因流动可以通过海山的存在来解释。由于O. insularis分布广泛（主要是中北部种群），分为四个遗传上不同的渔业，因此需要对物种渔业进行相应管理，这可能取决于国际政策协议。