DNA Barcoding of Commercial Three High Value Red Sea Fishes from the Egyptian Market

Abstract

Fish play an essential role in food security and are regarded as one of Egypt's primary food resources and, therefore, significantly im-pact the national economy. The three main sources of fish production in Egypt: marine (Red and Mediterranean seas), lakes and the River Nile, due to the elevated incidence of species substitution at the global level, precise identification of seafood species on the markets considered a solution for food safety control institutions and human consumer protec-tion. Mislabeling occurs when one species is substituted for another. Different species of red sea marine fish were collected from the Egyptian market. According to the Arabic name in the fish market, Samples searched for English and Latin family names in (www.fishdata-base.org). Commercial samples were successfully extracted and confirmed with 1.5% agarose gel electrophoresis. The result showed that the mtDNA gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) amplification was successful for all samples with high concentration, it was purified and sequenced for both directions and blasted using the NCBI database. Resulting in the identification of three commercially essential and expensive fish samples, Baghbaghan (parrotfish), Hamour (Greasy Grouper) and kahaya (Spiny squirrelfish). One of them correctly identified according to the market name, while the other two are recorded mistakenly under another name.