Development of a FINS- based method for the identification of skates species of commercial interest

Rajidae family is one of the most diverse families within Batoidea superorder with more of 220 described species, of which many skates are particularly vulnerable to overfishing. This fact makes IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species contains 209 of these skate species. The main marketing formats of these species are fresh and frozen wings. This makes impossible their identification on the basis of their morphological characters. For these reasons, in the present study a method for genetic identification of different skate species has been developed. The technique is based on sequencing of a fragment of 555 bp from amplified DNA, COI (Cytochrome Oxidase subunit 1) gene, by PCR and subsequent phylogenetic analysis (FINS: Forensically Informative Nucleotide Sequencing). The technique allows the genetic identification of more than 40 skate species in skate products. The main novelty of this work lies in the fact that up to now there is no work about the genetic identification that includes so many skate species. Therefore, this molecular tool is appropriate to clarify questions related with the correct labeling of skate commercial products, the traceability of raw materials, and the control of imported skates, and also can be applied to questions linked to the control of skate fisheries.