Genetic identification of global commercial sea cucumber species on the basis of mitochondrial DNA sequences

Sea cucumbers are regarded as traditional delicacies, medicine and aphrodisiacs in Asia over many centuries. Generally, sea cucumbers are gutted, boiled and roasted, then preserved through drying, smoking or freezing. Thus, it is very difficult to identify clearly the species of processed sea cucumber on the basis of their morphology. In this work, FINS methodology was developed as a tool to assess the incidence of incorrect labeling of sea cucumbers belonging to family Holothuriidae in commercial food products. The result showed that 7 samples were incorrectly labeled (63.6%). Moreover, the technique allows the genetic identification of more than 40 species from all over the world.