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Program for the Human Environment

Jesse H. Ausubel, Director

Students Use DNA Barcodes to Unmask “Mislabeled” Fish at Grocery Stores, Restaurants

• High school friends make first student use of DNA barcodes in public marketplaces
• One-quarter of 56 fish samples from 14 stores, restaurants in Upper Manhattan revealed to be cheaper or endangered fish species.
• Mozambique Tilapia sold as “White Tuna” in sushi

Two New York City high school friends, curious about new DNA barcoding technology, discovered that fish at local stores and restaurants are commonly mislabeled and sold for far more than regular market price.

Worse, in two cases DNA barcode tests revealed that filleted fish sold as the popular Red Snapper (caught mostly off the southeast U.S. and in the Caribbean) was instead the endangered Acadian Redfish (which swims in the North Atlantic).

The students’ report marks the first marketplace application of the four-year-old DNA barcoding technology.

Contact

Mr. Terry Collins
416-538-8712
terrycollins@rogers.com

Jesse Ausubel
Program for the Human Environment, The Rockefeller University
212-327-7842
ausubel@rockefeller.edu

Kevin Ramsey
Trinity School
kevin.ramsey@trinityschoolnyc.org

Documents

press release

a related paper on identifying Canadian freshwater fishes through DNA barcoding

Images

	Mislabeled fish: tuna = tilapia Albacore Tuna Thunnus alalunga Mozambique Tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus
	Mislabeled fish: red snapper Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus Lavender Jobfish Pristipomoides sieboldii Slender Pinjalo Pinjalo lewisi Nile Perch Lates niloticus Acadian Redfish Sebastes fasciatus
	The authors Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss

Useful links

• Encyclopedia of Life: www.eol.org
• Barcode of Life Database: www.barcodinglife.org
• Consortium for the Barcode of Life: barcoding.si.edu
• Barcoding marine species: www.marinebarcoding.org
• FishBol: www.fishbol.org
• Barcoding blog: http://phe.rockefeller.edu/barcode/blog
• Ten Reasons for Barcoding Life: http://phe.rockefeller.edu/barcode/docs/TenReasonsBarcoding.pdf
• "Barcode of Life" Scientific American, October 2008: http://phe.rockefeller.edu/docs/BarcodeScientificAmerican.2008.10.pdf