Abstract
Ghana’s waters are biologically diverse with different fish species due to different ecological habitats and niches harboring several cryptic fish species. However, the fish production has reduced over the past decade; hence an urgent conservation and management strategies are required to save Ghanaian fishery such as accurate identification of species to formulate species-specific conservation and management strategies. Molecular method of fish identification, DNA barcoding, has proven its efficacy in species identification for both freshwater and marine species. In recent years, DNA barcoding has been accepted as a bio-identification system for living organisms globally. This system is fast and produces accurate species identification by using a short DNA sequence marker from a standard region of the DNA sequence of an organism’s genome to identify it as belonging to a particular individual or species based on Cytochrome C Oxidase type I (COI/ Cox 1) gene instead of the whole genome. Unfortunately, unlike the developed countries, this molecular method of fish identification is new in Ghana. This review article aims to examine the issues regarding fish identification and the need for DNA barcoding as a tool for taxonomic identification, grouping, and naming of fish species in Ghana. Also, this review takes a look at the current status and future direction of DNA barcoding fisheries in Ghana. In addition, the benefits of DNA Barcoding in fishery management and conservation are discussed. Key words: DNA barcoding, Ghana, marine species, current status, management, conservation.
Highlights
Aquatic organisms are the largest and most diverse class of invertebrate and vertebrate species
This review aimed to provide an overview and potentials of Ghana’s fishery sector and to access the current and future state of DNA barcoding as a fish identification tool for Ghanaian fish species with a secondary aim to establish a DNA barcode reference library for utilization in biodiversity assessment and conservation for the entire country
The c oxidase subunit I (COI) divergence and species identification success based on DNA barcodes have been previously assessed for many freshwater fish species, for example in Canada (Hubert et al, 2008)
Summary
Aquatic organisms are the largest and most diverse class of invertebrate and vertebrate species. The basic research that helps characterize their taxonomic diversity is important for the conservation of these taxa and for improvement of their management and conservation strategies (Wang et al, 2010). They are among the easiest groups of organisms for which to generate DNA barcode data (Weigt et al, 2012)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
