Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lieber, L
• Berrow, S
• Johnston, E
• Hall, G
• Hall, J
• Gubili, C
• Sims, D W
• Jones, C S
• Noble, L R

Titel

Mucus: aiding elasmobranch conservation through non-invasive genetic sampling

Ist Teil von

• Endangered species research, 2013-01, Vol.21 (3), p.215-222

Ort / Verlag

Inter-Research

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Large-scale genetic sampling by non-invasive methods is of vital importance for the conservation of vulnerable or elusive species. In the marine environment, non-invasive genetic sampling can provide a powerful alternative to conventional biopsies. We designed and implemented mucus swabbing for a free-ranging elasmobranch, thereby demonstrating the utility of this method in the field. We report the first attempt at mucus collection from 30 plankton-feeding basking sharks Cctorhinus maxinws from 3 spatially distinct 'hotspots' in Irish waters. C. nwximus DNA was successfully extracted and verified using DNA barcoding of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome coxidase 1 gene (99% sequence similarity) and basking shark species-specific multiplex PCRs derived from the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 locus. Mitochondrial control region sequencing (1086 bp) showed that Irish samples were dominated by 2 haplotypes previously found to be globally distributed. Additionally, 1 novel haplotype was defined from western County Kerry. On-going genetic tagging will eventually provide more accurate estimates of global basking shark population structuring, abundance and behavioural ecology.