DNA barcoding of mudskippers (Boleophthalmus dussumeri, Periophthalmus waltoni and Scartelaos teneus) from Bushehr coastal waters

Mudskippers are important in many biological and ecotoxicological studies and recognized as potentioal Biomarker in environmental monitoring and assessments of coastal waters in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. DNA Barcoding technique was used to identify the exact species of mudskippers in the Persian Gulf from Coastal waters of Bushehr province. This technique may provide faster detecting and giving a lot of information about the taxonomy of species. Samples were collected from four areas including Genaveh, Shif, Delawar and Mond in Bushehr province. According to morphological properties three species (Boleophthalmus dussumeri, Periophthalmus waltoni and Scartelaos teneus) were identified. In order to barcoding, mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase of the fish was sequenced. COI sequence analysis of ten specimens from each species indicates that B. dussumeri, P. waltoni and S. teneus have genetic differences in amount of 17.8%. Maximum genetic differences were calculated between B. dussumeri, P. waltoni (19.1%) and minimum genetic differences were observed between P. waltoni and S. teneus (11.8%). These amounts of genetic differences among the studied mudskippers, approve the presence of three species in Bushehr coastal waters. COI sequence comparison and phylogenetic tree of each studied species with other mudskippers clustered these species in the same genus. In molecular obtained data confirmed the present morphological classification methods for these species.