Shark fishing in fin soup

Abstract

Shark DNA extracted from products used in trade (e.g. soup and dried fins) was amplified using PCR. A strategy is described that permits the identification of amplified material to species (for mtDNA Cytb and NADH2 loci) and the species-specific amplification of basking shark DNA from mixed templates (for the Cytb locus). These methods will be useful for forensic applications to govern trade in these heavily exploited species.