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Molecular Identification of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae) Larvae and Development of a DNA Character-Based Identification Key for Mediterranean Scombrids

The Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, is a commercially important species that has been severely over-exploited in the recent past. Although the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock is now showing signs of recovery, its current status remains very uncertain and as a consequence their recov...

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Autores principales: Puncher, Gregory Neils, Arrizabalaga, Haritz, Alemany, Francisco, Cariani, Alessia, Oray, Isik K., Karakulak, F. Saadet, Basilone, Gualtiero, Cuttitta, Angela, Mazzola, Salvatore, Tinti, Fausto
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4493144/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26147931
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130407
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author Puncher, Gregory Neils
Arrizabalaga, Haritz
Alemany, Francisco
Cariani, Alessia
Oray, Isik K.
Karakulak, F. Saadet
Basilone, Gualtiero
Cuttitta, Angela
Mazzola, Salvatore
Tinti, Fausto
author_facet Puncher, Gregory Neils
Arrizabalaga, Haritz
Alemany, Francisco
Cariani, Alessia
Oray, Isik K.
Karakulak, F. Saadet
Basilone, Gualtiero
Cuttitta, Angela
Mazzola, Salvatore
Tinti, Fausto
author_sort Puncher, Gregory Neils
collection PubMed
description The Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, is a commercially important species that has been severely over-exploited in the recent past. Although the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock is now showing signs of recovery, its current status remains very uncertain and as a consequence their recovery is dependent upon severe management informed by rigorous scientific research. Monitoring of early life history stages can inform decision makers about the health of the species based upon recruitment and survival rates. Misidentification of fish larvae and eggs can lead to inaccurate estimates of stock biomass and productivity which can trigger demands for increased quotas and unsound management conclusions. Herein we used a molecular approach employing mitochondrial and nuclear genes (CO1 and ITS1, respectively) to identify larvae (n = 188) collected from three spawning areas in the Mediterranean Sea by different institutions working with a regional fisheries management organization. Several techniques were used to analyze the genetic sequences (sequence alignments using search algorithms, neighbour joining trees, and a genetic character-based identification key) and an extensive comparison of the results is presented. During this process various inaccuracies in related publications and online databases were uncovered. Our results reveal important differences in the accuracy of the taxonomic identifications carried out by different ichthyoplanktologists following morphology-based methods. While less than half of larvae provided were bluefin tuna, other dominant taxa were bullet tuna (Auxis rochei), albacore (Thunnus alalunga) and little tunny (Euthynnus alletteratus). We advocate an expansion of expertise for a new generation of morphology-based taxonomists, increased dialogue between morphology-based and molecular taxonomists and increased scrutiny of public sequence databases.
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spelling pubmed-44931442015-07-15 Molecular Identification of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae) Larvae and Development of a DNA Character-Based Identification Key for Mediterranean Scombrids Puncher, Gregory Neils Arrizabalaga, Haritz Alemany, Francisco Cariani, Alessia Oray, Isik K. Karakulak, F. Saadet Basilone, Gualtiero Cuttitta, Angela Mazzola, Salvatore Tinti, Fausto PLoS One Research Article The Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, is a commercially important species that has been severely over-exploited in the recent past. Although the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock is now showing signs of recovery, its current status remains very uncertain and as a consequence their recovery is dependent upon severe management informed by rigorous scientific research. Monitoring of early life history stages can inform decision makers about the health of the species based upon recruitment and survival rates. Misidentification of fish larvae and eggs can lead to inaccurate estimates of stock biomass and productivity which can trigger demands for increased quotas and unsound management conclusions. Herein we used a molecular approach employing mitochondrial and nuclear genes (CO1 and ITS1, respectively) to identify larvae (n = 188) collected from three spawning areas in the Mediterranean Sea by different institutions working with a regional fisheries management organization. Several techniques were used to analyze the genetic sequences (sequence alignments using search algorithms, neighbour joining trees, and a genetic character-based identification key) and an extensive comparison of the results is presented. During this process various inaccuracies in related publications and online databases were uncovered. Our results reveal important differences in the accuracy of the taxonomic identifications carried out by different ichthyoplanktologists following morphology-based methods. While less than half of larvae provided were bluefin tuna, other dominant taxa were bullet tuna (Auxis rochei), albacore (Thunnus alalunga) and little tunny (Euthynnus alletteratus). We advocate an expansion of expertise for a new generation of morphology-based taxonomists, increased dialogue between morphology-based and molecular taxonomists and increased scrutiny of public sequence databases. Public Library of Science 2015-07-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4493144/ /pubmed/26147931 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130407 Text en © 2015 Puncher et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Puncher, Gregory Neils
Arrizabalaga, Haritz
Alemany, Francisco
Cariani, Alessia
Oray, Isik K.
Karakulak, F. Saadet
Basilone, Gualtiero
Cuttitta, Angela
Mazzola, Salvatore
Tinti, Fausto
Molecular Identification of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae) Larvae and Development of a DNA Character-Based Identification Key for Mediterranean Scombrids
title Molecular Identification of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae) Larvae and Development of a DNA Character-Based Identification Key for Mediterranean Scombrids
title_full Molecular Identification of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae) Larvae and Development of a DNA Character-Based Identification Key for Mediterranean Scombrids
title_fullStr Molecular Identification of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae) Larvae and Development of a DNA Character-Based Identification Key for Mediterranean Scombrids
title_full_unstemmed Molecular Identification of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae) Larvae and Development of a DNA Character-Based Identification Key for Mediterranean Scombrids
title_short Molecular Identification of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae) Larvae and Development of a DNA Character-Based Identification Key for Mediterranean Scombrids
title_sort molecular identification of atlantic bluefin tuna (thunnus thynnus, scombridae) larvae and development of a dna character-based identification key for mediterranean scombrids
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4493144/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26147931
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130407
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