Identification of tropical Eastern Atlantic Mugilidae species by PCR-RFLP analysis of mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene fragments

摘要

Fish species of the Mugilidae family (mullets) are distributed throughout the world in coastal or estuarine waters. This family includes some 62 species belonging to 14 genera (Thomson, 1997). Almost all species are euryhaline, spawn at sea, and larvae and/or juveniles migrate into inshore waters, estuaries, lagoons and deltas (De Silva, 1980). In the Eastern Atlantic region, eight species are currently known from southern Mauritania to Angola (Albaret, 2003; Diouf, 1996; Thomson, 1997): Mugil bananensis (Pellegrin, 1927), M. capurrii (Perugia, 1892), M. cephalus Linnaeus, 1758, M. curema Valenciennes, 1836, Liza bandialensis Diouf, 1996, L. dumerili (Steindachner, 1870), L. falcipinnis (Valenciennes, 1836) and L. grandisquamis (Valenciennes, 1836). Particularly abundant in lagoons and estuaries (Albaret and Legendre,1985; Brulhet,1975; Payne, 1976), mullets constitute a major resource for many African human populations for which up to 50% of total animal protein intake comes from fish (FAO, 2007). In addition, mullets from African waters are also increasingly represented in international trade of seafood products, and processed ovary products of large species such as M. cephalus are specifically exported (Bernardon and Mohamed Vall, 2004; Chavance et al., 2005).