ABSTRACT
We used random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) to generate species-specific diagnostic fragment patterns for the molecular identification of the ornamental aquarium fish species Badis badis and Dario dario. Seven arbitrary oligodecamer primers produced a total of 116 bands of which 98.23 percent were polymorphic. The size of the amplified products was in the range 340 bp to 2170 bp. Intraspecies genetic similarity was 0.879 ± 0.023 for B. badis and 0.840 ± 0.014 for D. dario while interspecies genetic similarity was 0.602 ± 0.017, with cluster analysis displaying separate taxonomic and evolutionary status for these fish. The results show that RAPD was useful for the molecular identification of aquarium fish species, with morphological traits also being important.