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African freshwater eel species (Anguilla spp.) identification through DNA barcoding

Hanzen, C.; Lucas, M.C.; O'Brien, G.; Downs, C.T.; Willows-Munro, S.

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Authors

C. Hanzen

G. O'Brien

C.T. Downs

S. Willows-Munro



Abstract

Freshwater eels (Anguilla spp.) have a long and complex catadromous life cycle. This unique feature, coupled with difficulty in separating species based on morphology, makes them complex targets for conservation. In this study we evaluated the utility of DNA barcoding using cytochrome oxidase I (COI) to delimit the four species of African eels found in the western Indian Ocean region. We collected 76 individual fin clips from the four eel species (A. mossambica, n = 51; A. marmorata, n = 17; A. bengalensis, n = 6; A. bicolor, n = 2) in the rivers of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa, in 2016–18. Phylogenetic analysis of the COI sequences recovered all four species as monophyletic. Barcoding gap analyses were performed and there was no found overlap in inter- and intraspecific genetic distances. Consequently, the use of COI barcoding as an identification tool was found to be reliable for identifying African eels to the species level, which suggests that this marker should be included in future environmental DNA or metabarcoding studies.

Citation

Hanzen, C., Lucas, M., O'Brien, G., Downs, C., & Willows-Munro, S. (2020). African freshwater eel species (Anguilla spp.) identification through DNA barcoding. Marine & Freshwater Research, 71(11), 1543-1548. https://doi.org/10.1071/mf19390

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 17, 2020
Online Publication Date Mar 23, 2020
Publication Date 2020
Deposit Date Apr 18, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Marine and Freshwater Research
Print ISSN 1323-1650
Electronic ISSN 1448-6059
Publisher CSIRO Publishing
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 71
Issue 11
Pages 1543-1548
DOI https://doi.org/10.1071/mf19390

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