DNA barcoding for species assignment: the case of Mediterranean marine fishes

DNA barcoding enhances the prospects for species-level identifications globally using a standardized and authenticated DNA-based approach. Reference libraries comprising validated DNA barcodes (COI) constitute robust datasets for testing query sequences, providing considerable utility to identify marine fish and other organisms. Here we test the feasibility of using DNA barcoding to assign species to tissue samples from fish collected in the central Mediterranean Sea, a major contributor to the European marine ichthyofaunal diversity. Research carried out at University of Palermo was supported by "Fondi di Ateneo ex 60% Universita di Palermo". This work was supported by FEDER through POFCCOMPETE and by national funds from "Fundacaopara a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT)" in the scope of the grants, FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-010596 and PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014. ML's work was supported by the fellowship Ref: SFRH/BPD/45246/2008 from Fundacaopara a Ciencia e a Tecnologia. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.