Molecular identification of selected species of family Carangidae in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Economically important fish groups in family Carangidae have been identified as potential candidates for aquaculture. The phenotypic similarity of many species may lead to misidentification of species. The objectives of this study were to use partial sequence of mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase I (COI) gene (̃650bp), also known as the DNA barcoding gene region to confirm the species status of selected carangid fishes and to initiate the first Sri Lankan Barcode Library for native Carangid species. Eight fish species, namely, Caranx ignobilis, Caranx heberi, Caranx sexfasciatus, Gnathanodon speciosus, Carangoides hedlandensis, Carangoides malabaricus, Selaroides leptolepis and Selar crumenophthalmus were collected from fish landing sites. Three samples from each species were amplified for the DNA barcoding gene region and sequences were submitted to both databases, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) to initiate the formation of library.