A means of discriminating among species of clown anemonefishes, based on restriction enzyme analysis of partial mitochondrial DNA sequences, was investigated. Mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome b genes from 6 species (7 strains) of anemonefish (Premnas biculeatus, Amphiprion polymnus, A. sandaracinos, A. perideraion, A. ocellaris, A. ocellaris var. and A. percula) were PCR-amplified. A 623-bp portion of 16S rRNA gene was obtained from different fishes using the same pair of primers. Further

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... nvestigation of this 16S rRNA fragment, by restriction endonuclease digestion with BfuCI and RsaI, was not able to distinguish all fishes studied, but did yield 3 different digestion patterns. The first was specific to P. biculaetus, the sole member of the genus Premnas, while the remaining two separated the Amphiprion species into 2 groups: 1) A. polymnas, A. sandaracinos and A. perideraion, and 2) A. ocellaris, A. ocellaris var. and A. percula. In contrast to this, restriction endonuclease digestion of a 786-bp fragment of the cytochrome b gene with HinfI and RsaI, was able to differentiate different 7 anemonefishes. This utility marker is valuable for unambiguous species/strain identification of juvenile anemonefishes.