Vu Dang Ha Quyen^1,4, Thai Thi Lan Phuong¹, Truong Thi Oanh¹, Doan Vu Thinh², Tran Linh Thuoc³, Dang Thuy Binh¹

¹Institute for Biotechnology and Environment, Nha Trang University, 02 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Nha Trang,Vietnam; ²Faculty of Information Technology, Nha Trang University, Vietnam; ³Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory, University of Science, VNU-HCM, HCMC, Vietnam; ⁴Faculty of Biology & Biotechnology, University of Science, VNU-HCM, HCMC, Vietnam

   Vietnam is among 16 countries that harbor the highest biodiversity in the world, however, knowledge of its fish diversity remains limited due to lack of taxonomic expertise and low biological studies that investigate the fish’s taxonomy. The aims of this study was established DNA barcoding of freshwater fish in Vietnam, Freshwater fish species were sampling at the South (Mekong Delta), and South Center (Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, and Binh Dinh Provinces) in Vietnam. Morphologically, 70 species have been identified belong to 7 orders, 25 families, and 54 genera. Phylogenetic trees were constructed based on 16S rDNA gene of mitochondrial DNA using Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference approaches. Our results corroborate the monophyletic status at family and genus level. However, among 7 orders (Synbranchiformes, Cypriniformes, Perciformes, Siluriformes, Pleuronectiformes, Clupeiformes and Osteoglossiformes) two species of order Synbranchiformes was clustered in the same clade to species of order Perciformes. Biodiversity data (species composition, distribution, morphological and genetic characters of freshwater fish) were mapped, and WebGIS were set up. The WebGIS database can provide biodiversity information, and create the natural resources network, which can be shared effectively between stakeholders for resource management and conservation.

Keywords: DNA barcode, freshwater, fish, Mekong River, Vietnam