An environmental DNA assay for detecting Macquarie perch, Macquaria australasica

Abstract

Macquarie perch (Macquaria australasica) are an endangered freshwater fish found in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. I developed a species-specific assay to detect Macquarie perch DNA in environmental samples. The assay is highly specific to detect Macquarie perch, and produced no amplification from 18 co-distributed species. Testing the assay on environmental water samples demonstrated positive detections where Macquarie perch are known to be present in low and moderate density.