A genetic test was developed for the identification of the six species of
billfish found in Australian waters (black marlin, Indo–Pacific blue
marlin, striped marlin, Indo–Pacific sailfish, shortbill spearfish and
broadbill swordfish). The test was based on the PCR–RFLP analysis of a
1400 bp region of the mitochondrial DNA molecule, the d-loop, using four
restriction enzymes (Hinf I, Rsa I
and Sau3A I andTaq I). A total of
33 composite haplotypes were observed among 160 fish; all were
species-specific. Three of the species—black marlin, striped marlin and
broadbill swordfish—showed sufficient intra-specific variation to be
useful in population structure analyses.