Towards an eDNA assay for decapodiform cephalopods

Assessing the distribution and diversity of cephalopods using traditional approaches (standard fishing, market collection, and DNA barcoding) is time-consuming. Environmental DNA (eDNA) assays are non-invasive, fast, and can capture the diversity of the species of interest using a specific primer-set. For Cephalopods, standardization of such primers has been challenging because of a poor database of several markers, and the absence of complete mitochondrial genomes for its design. In this fast-talk, I will briefly talk about our new 87 complete mitochondrial genomes from specimens correctly identify and with museum vouchers, and how these mitogenomes promise to resolve the database limitation for eDNA assays in decapodiform cephalopods.