Fish ‘barcode blitz’ at Lizard Island (Great Barrier Reef)

Vertebrate COI barcode primers

Commonly used primers

Fish CO1-3, CO1-2, (FishF1, FishF2, FishR1, FishR2)

Amphibia COI-3, dgLCO/dgHCO, (M)LepF1/LepR1

Reptiles COI-3

Birds BirdF1/CObirdR2, BirdF1/BirdR1

Mammals COI-2, COI-3 (FishF1, FishR1)

FishF1, FishF2, FishR1 and FishR2 primer details in Ward et al. 2005.COI-2 and CO1-3 cocktail primer details in Ivanova et al. 2007.Sequences of other primers are available through BOLD.

FISH TISSUES USED:

White muscle tissueFin clipsEyes (from tiny or larval fish)

Vertebrate COI barcoding progress

Number of Barcodes* % species

  species (2010) Specimens Species barcoded

Fish 31,300 103,904 12,114 38.7

Amphibia 6,433 9,148 1,291 20.1

Reptiles 9,084 4,636 1,125 12.4

Birds 9,998 27,740 4,194 41.9

Mammals 5,490 42,769 1,976 36.0

TOTAL 62,305 188,197 20,700 33.2

*from BOLD Taxonomy Browser (14 Nov 2011)

Vertebrate COI barcoding progress

Number of Barcodes* % species

  species (2010) Specimens Species barcoded

Fish 31,300 103,904 12,114 38.7

Amphibia 6,433 9,148 1,291 20.1

Reptiles 9,084 4,636 1,125 12.4

Birds 9,998 27,740 4,194 41.9

Mammals 5,490 42,769 1,976 36.0

TOTAL 62,305 188,197 20,700 33.2

*from BOLD Taxonomy Browser (14 Nov 2011)

Fish have a unique (?) vertebrate problem of often being difficult to identify, and with many cryptic undescribed species.