DNA Analysis and Morphology of Mud Crab from Kampung Buntal, Kuching, Sarawak

• Main Author: Aida, Adnan
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2019
• Subjects: SH Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/35113/3/Aida%20A.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/35113/

Mud crab (Scylla spp. ) locally knowns as "ketam kalok" is important source of food and economy for local people in Kampung Buntal, Kuching, Sarawak. This village has diverse biological resources due to its strategic location in the mangrove and estuarine area. Despite its ecological and socio economic importance, study of mud crab in Sarawak is limited. Thus, this study was designed to: i) document morphological characteristics of mud crab and ii) analyse Cytochrome C Oxidase 1 (COl) gene of mud crabs from Kampung Buntal, Sarawak. A total of 39 mud crabs were collected subjected to morphological assessment. Based on mud crab identification keys, two species identified namely S. tranquebarica and S. olivacea. Male and female of both species could be differentiated by the shape of abdomen. An approximately 580bp COI gene from sample analysed and it matched with S. tranquebarica (Accession No.: FJ011457.1). S. tranquebarica from this study and those deposited in the GenBank formed a Glade with high bootstrap value 100%, therefore S. tranquebarica is monophyletic. The finding from this study implies that COI gene is good marker to support identification of mud crab. In the future, more morphological character should be examined, and different genetic marker should be used in order to understand the overall population of mud crab in the area.