Affiliations: Department of Marine Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Mosunmola Florence Akinwunmi, Department of Marine Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria. Tel.: +234 80 3578 1878; E-mail: mfakinwunmi@gmail.com.
Abstract: The Giant tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon, is an invasive species in the Gulf of Guinea along the West African coast. The species is not native to the region but has been well established. The first report of its occurrence in Nigeria was about 20 years ago. DNA bar coding is fast emerging as an essential and additional tool for morphology-based species identification. In this study, both morphological and molecular approaches were used in the identification of Penaeus monodon. Samples of the shrimps were collected from Badagry and Lagos Lagoons, South-western Nigeria between May and July, 2015. The genetic diversity of Penaeid shrimp species in this oldest and largest brackish water lagoons is still unknown. The morphomerics (meristic and morphometric) measurement of the shrimps was performed while the DNA of the organisms was extracted using slightly modified phenol-chloroform method and the Norgen tissue kit. Amplification and sequencing of the samples were carried out and further identification was done by comparing with sequence data in the GenBank. In this study, the generated sequences revealed 99% close match and similarities with Penaeus monodon with the conspecific database sequences (GenBank and BOLD). This serves as a confirmation to the species nomenclature and an addition to knowledge to the Biologists, Taxonomists and Conservationists. Hence, there is need for more research to be carried out in the future to determine whether the populations of the species along these interconnecting lagoons are genetically diverse despite the fact that there is considerable gene flow between them.
Keywords: DNA extraction, GenBank, Giant tiger shrimp, lagoons, total length, sequencing
