DNA barcoding of nomei fish (Synodontidae: Harpadon sp.) in Tarakan Island, Indonesia

Nomei or "lembe-lembe", a local name for fishes of the family Synodontidae, is an economically important fish in the city. The lack of detailed and precise reports of this fish has caused extinction status of nomei species in its distribution range in Tarakan. These were sequenced for the 618-bp region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase sub unit I gene (COI). The aim of this research was to evaluate the genetic variation and phylogenetic comparison among nomei fish in Tarakan Island, Indonesia. The results of alignment showed 12 substitutions of nucleotides bases, which consisted of 12 transitions with no transversions, insertions and deletions. The phylogenetic tree resulting Neighbour Joining (NJ), Maximum Parsimony (MP) analysis and network analysis showed that Nomei fish from Amal and Juata samples were clustered in one group. Divergent sequence of nomei fish from Amal and Juata (average 0.354±0.008) in comparison of Harpadon nehereus. This novel of Nomei barcode will help provide a database for Indonesian fish, to be recorded using the Barcoding of Life Data System.