DNA fingerprinting of the carangid fish species from the Iraqi marine waters by using RAPD technique

Twenty species of the family Carangidae from Iraqi marine waters, northwest, Arabian Gulf were identified depending on RAPD-PCR technique. Six primers were used: P1 (212), P2 (239), P3 (244), P4 (250), P5 (265) and P6 (347), which showed evident banding patterns and distinguishable differences among species. The number of bands generated varied from 104 in primer 4 to 230 in primer 6. The genetic distance (D) among carangid fish species ranged from 57% between A. ciliaris and A. indica to 97% between C. bajad and S. nigrofasciata. The conclusions of cluster analysis about the phylogenetic relationships of carangid fishes indicate two main branches, the first branch with six groups included 14 species (A. ciliaris, A. indica, A. atropos, A. mate, C. armatus, C. bajad, C. chrysophrys, C. malabaricus, G. speciosus, M. cordyla, P. niger, S. commersonnianus, S. tol, S. crumenophthalmus), the second branch with two groups included six species (A. djedaba, A. kleinii, A. vari, S. nigrofasciata, T. mookalee, U. helvola). The more relative species among carangid fishes were A. ciliaris and A. indica.