Urban Barcode Research Project Team ForeniscBio
Program:
Urban Barcode Research Project
Year:
2017-18
Research Topic:
Wildlife
Taxonomic Group Studied:
Animals

Project:

A DNA Barcoding Species Identification of Fish Sold in New York City Markets as “Red Snappers”
Students:
Tova Kleiner, Yaa Donkor
Institution:
John Jay College, Brooklyn
Mentors:
Richard Li

Abstract:

The red snapper fish, it would seem, that one may buy at his or her local market, may not be the fish that customer intends to spe nd their money on. In this study, we examine the possibility of this mischance occurring by extrac ting DNA from limited samples of fish that have been purported to be red snappers, sending th e samples out for sequencing, and using the BLAST system to match the DNA sequences of our samples to that of the database. Through that process we identified some of the purported red sn appers were in fact fake. There may be many reasons as to why a local shop would display false fish to be a red snapper, but we contend that the fish replacing the red snapper in stores are cheaper to buy than the red snapper.

Poster:

DNA Barcoding Poster
View team poster (PDF/PowerPoint)

Team samples: