A DNA barcode reference library of French Polynesian shore fishes

Abstract

The emergence of DNA barcoding and metabarcoding opened new ways to study biological diversity, however, the completion of DNA barcode libraries is fundamental for such approaches to succeed. This dataset is a DNA barcode reference library (fragment of Cytochrome Oxydase I gene) for 2,190 specimens representing at least 540 species of shore fishes collected over 10 years at 154 sites across the four volcanic archipelagos of French Polynesia; the Austral, Gambier, Marquesas and Society Islands, a 5,000,000 km² area. At present, 65% of the known shore fish species of these archipelagoes possess a DNA barcode associated with preserved, photographed, tissue sampled and cataloged specimens, and extensive collection locality data. This dataset represents one of the most comprehensive DNA barcoding efforts for a vertebrate fauna to date. Considering the challenges associated with the conservation of coral reef fishes and the difficulties of accurately identifying species using morphological characters, this publicly available library is expected to be helpful for both authorities and academics in various fields.

Fig. 1

Overview of data generation. From collection of specimen to the validation of data generation.

Fig. 2

Sampling localities across French Polynesia. The number of sampling sites and the number of specimens collected are displayed for each archipelago. Several sampling localities may be represented by a single dot due to the geographic scale of French Polynesia. Map data: Google, DigitalGlobe.

Fig. 3

Species diversity and distribution of genetic distance across the DNA barcode library. (a) Species diversity by family for the four archipelagoes sampled; (b) Distribution of maximum intraspecific distances (K2P, percent); (c) Distribution of nearest neighbor distances (K2P, percent); (d) Relationship between maximum intraspecific and nearest neighbor distances. Points above the diagonal line indicate species with a barcode gap.