Abstract: We selected 12 microsatellite primers with specificity and polymorphism from 51 microsatellite primers from GenBank by using an automatic nucleic acid protein analysis system. Fluorescent-labeled primers were synthesized to amplify the three cultured populations of M. salmoides from the main culture area of Guangdong. The results show that among the 12 microsatellite loci, three of them were highly polymorphic, four were moderately polymorphic, and the remaining five showed low polymorphic. The genetic diversity of these three populations was low, and the expected heterozygosity (H_e) was 0.312 5, 0.360 6 and 0.328 4, respectively. Genetic differentiation index and AMOVA analysis among populations show that the genetic differentiation among populations was low, and 85.83% of genetic variation came from difference among individuals within populations. Genetic distance analysis shows that the genetic distance was small and genetic similarity was rather high among the three cultured populations. Genetic structure analysis shows that the three cultured populations originated from the same subgroup. The results suggest that the genetic diversity of the cultured population of M. salmoides in China has decreased significantly at present. Therefore, great attention should be paid to improving and maintaining genetic diversity of the population during the breeding process.