Short Communication A small leap toward DNA barcode library creation of ornamental fishes: development of 17 DNA barcodes from Manipur, India Bijoya Devi Khomdram * Department of Biotechnology, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, 788011, India article info Article history: Received 4 April 2018 Received in revised form 23 May 2018 Accepted 14 June 2018 Available online 27 June 2018 Keywords: Conservation Cytochrome oxidase subunit I Reference library Species identification abstract Proper identification is expected to result in proper conservation of a species. Morphology-based iden- tifications are problematic in many cases and often time-consuming. DNA barcoding came out to be the problem solver in these cases. A researcher can easily identify a species by comparing generated barcode sequences with the barcode sequences from a DNA barcode library. We havedeveloped 17 DNA barcodes representing 15 different species of ornamental fishes from Manipur, India, which are deposited in GenBank and BOLD. The present study will help future researchers to identify their ornamental fishes properly without confusion and ultimately may help in proper conservation of ornamental fishes that are threatened. Ó 2018 National Science Museum of Korea (NSMK) and Korea National Arboretum (KNA), Publishing Services by Elsevier. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Introduction Ornamental fishes usually mean eye-catching colorful and interesting fishes of various characteristics. Most of the small food fishes that are treated as unwanted for conventional farming have good potential as ornamental fishes and are popularly known as aquarium fishes (Khomdram et al 2014). Generally, ornamental fishes are selected based on their body color (preferably attractive), body shape, and aquarium suitability. Northeast India is the leading source of ornamental fishes in India. This region contributes 85% of the ornamental fish export from India (Devi et al 2013). Owing to the diversity of topographic and climatic features of Northeastern states of India, this region is rich in endemic fishes. These endemic species are attracting hobbyists both locally and globally. The up-to- date inventory of the fish species of the Northeastern hill region showed 250 potential ornamental fish species. Out of this, the highest number was recorded from Assam (187 species), followed by Arunachal Pradesh (165 species), Meghalaya (159 species), Manipur (139 species), Tripura (103 species), Nagaland (71 species), Mizoram (46 species), and Sikkim (29 species) (Mahapatra et al 2004). Manipur is endowed with a rich resource of native type of ornamental fish species. Ornamental fishery resources face a range of challenges: the need for their conservation and sustainable use, problems caused by habitat loss and degradation, harmful fishing practices (overfishing and destructive fishing, such as the use of cyanide), changes in international trade patterns, and concerns about the introduction of exotic species (fisheries and aquaculture department). One of the main problems faced by the aquarists is the proper identification of these fishes. If an ornamental fish species is properly identified, that very species could be properly conserved and all the related problems could be solved. Although many research works have been carried out for proper identification of the endemic fishes of Manipur (Vishwanath 2000; Vishwanath et al 1998; Vishwanath et al 2011; Vishwanath and Darshan 2006; Vishwanath and Devi 2005; Vishwanath and Dishma 2012; Vishwanath and Juliana 2004; Vishwanath and Linthoingambi 2007; Vishwanath and Shantakumar 2007; Vishwanath and Tombi 1985), the works were solely based on morphology. Morphology-based identifications of fishes are time-consuming and problematic for several reasons. For some fishes, it is difficult or impossible to identify juveniles. DNA barcoding protocol has been demonstrated as an effective fish identification tool in situations including consumer protection and fisheries management/conser- vation (Hebert et al 2003). Using barcodes for routine species identifications is the most widely accepted one of the potential applications of DNA barcoding (Rubinoff 2006). Several studies of Fish Barcode of Life initiative have generated a huge number of reference DNA barcode sequences from taxonomically authenti- cated fish species (Ratnasingham and Hebert 2007). Most of the endemic ornamental fishes of Manipur remain unexplored * Tel.: þ91 9615372134. E-mail address: khbijoyadevi1085@rediffmail.com. Peer review under responsibility of National Science Museum of Korea (NSMK) and Korea National Arboretum (KNA). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/japb https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2018.06.005 pISSN2287-884X eISSN2287-9544/Ó 2018 National Science Museum of Korea (NSMK) and Korea National Arboretum (KNA), Publishing Services by Elsevier. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity 11 (2018) 452e458