A glimpse into the genetic diversity of the Peruvian seafood sector: Unveiling species substitution, mislabeling and trade of threatened species

Alan Marín,Beder Ramírez,Ruben Alfaro,José Serna,Christian Robles,Eliana Zelada-Mázmela,Giovanna Sotil,Lorenzo E. Reyes-Flores,Shilin Chen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0206596

Alan Marín, Beder Ramírez + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206596

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Abstract

Peru is one of the world’s leading fishing nations and its seafood industry relies on the trade of a vast variety of aquatic resources, playing a key role in the country’s socio-economic development. DNA barcoding has become of paramount importance for systematics, conservation, and seafood traceability, complementing or even surpassing conventional identification methods when target organisms show similar morphology during the early life stages, have recently diverged, or have undergone processing. Aiming to increase our knowledge of the species diversity available across the Peruvian supply chain (from fish landing sites to markets and restaurants), we applied full and mini-barcoding approaches targeting three mitochondrial genes (COI, 16S, and 12S) and the control region to identify samples purchased at retailers from six departments along the north-central Peruvian coast. DNA barcodes from 131 samples were assigned to 55 species (plus five genus-level taxa) comprising 47 families, 24 orders, and six classes including Actinopterygii (45.03%), Chondrichthyes (36.64%), Bivalvia (6.87%), Cephalopoda (6.11%), Malacostraca (3.82%), and Gastropoda (1.53%). The identified samples included commercially important pelagic (anchovy, bonito, dolphinfish) and demersal (hake, smooth-hound, Peruvian rock seabass, croaker) fish species. Our results unveiled the marketing of protected and threatened species such as whale shark, Atlantic white marlin, smooth hammerhead (some specimens collected during closed season), shortfin mako, and pelagic thresher sharks. A total of 35 samples (26.72%) were mislabeled, including tilapia labeled as wild marine fish, dolphinfish and hake labeled as grouper, and different shark species sold as “smooth-hounds”. The present study highlights the necessity of implementing traceability and monitoring programs along the entire seafood supply chain using molecular tools to enhance sustainability efforts and ensure consumer choice.

Highlights

Peru is a major fishing country with rich marine biodiversity
Cebiche is the Peruvian national dish and by far the most popular and the pride of the citizens of Peru, where seafood is marinated with lime, which could affect the effectiveness of DNA isolation challenging downstream applications
The generation of a comprehensive Peruvian seafood barcoding library based on a mass genetic profiling of seafood biodiversity will be helpful to overcome these disadvantages

Summary

Introduction

Peru is a major fishing country with rich marine biodiversity. The highly productive Peruvian upwelling system supports the world’s largest fishery for Peruvian anchovy (Engraulis ringens) [5, 6], and other important planktivorous fish species (e.g., jack mackerel Trachurus murphyi) and their predators (e.g., bonito Sarda chiliensis, dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus), which are valuable artisanal fishery resources [4]. The fishery sector plays a key role in the nation’s socio-economic growth with most artisanal production consumed directly through local markets [4]. In 2016, Peru was the fifth biggest producer of marine capture fisheries in the world, with a total production of 3.7 million tonnes [7]. Most (75%) of that production was due to anchovy catches, but high catches of other species such as Pacific chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus), jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas), and South Pacific hake (Merluccius gayi), were reported [8]

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