title: Linking adults and immatures of South African marine fishes.
abstract: The early life-history stages of fishes are poorly known, impeding acquisition of the identifications needed to monitor larval recruitment and year-class strength. A comprehensive database of COI sequences, linked to authoritatively identified voucher specimens, promises to change this situation, representing a significant advance for fisheries science. Barcode records were obtained from 2526 early larvae and pelagic eggs of fishes collected on the inshore shelf within 5 km of the KwaZulu-Natal coast, about 50 km south of Durban, South Africa. Barcodes were also obtained from 3215 adults, representing 946 South African fish species. Using the COI reference library on BOLD based on adults, 89% of the immature fishes could be identified to a species level; they represented 450 species. Most of the uncertain sequences could be assigned to a genus, family, or order; only 92 specimens (4%) were unassigned. Accumulation curves based on inference of phylogenetic diversity indicate near-completeness of the collecting effort. The entire set of adult and larval fishes included 1006 species, representing 43% of all fish species known from South African waters. However, this total included 189 species not previously recorded from this region. The fact that almost 90% of the immatures gained a species identification demonstrates the power and completeness of the DNA barcode reference library for fishes generated during the 10 years of FishBOL.
authors.affiliation: a Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Steinke
authors.affiliation: b South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown, South Africa 6140.
authors.forename: Allan D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Connell
authors.affiliation: a Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Paul D N
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Hebert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D005399:Fishes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013019:South Africa
chemical_list: D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV
keywords: DNA barcoding; codage à barre; fish; fish eggs; larval fish; larves de poisson; poisson; œufs de poisson