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Over the past 250 years, more than 1.7 million species of multi-cellular organisms have been described. However, the task of species recognition remains complex. Many species remain undescribed and even known species often require a specialist for their identification. The barcode of life initiative aims to accelerate both the discovery and identification of life by exploiting sequence diversity in a standardized gene region as a basis for species recognition. Since its first proposal in 2003, DNA barcoding has grown rapidly. International research efforts are now co-ordinated by the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) which includes more than 120 member organizations in 45 nations.
Most early DNA barcoding studies were modest in scope, but CBOL launched two global campaigns in 2005 – one on fishes and another on birds. By coupling major collection programs with high-volume sequencing facilities, FISH-BOL seeks to assemble DNA barcodes for all fishes by 2012. Our current application seeks support to make a major contribution through a detailed barcode study of fishes at one site in the Great Barrier Reef. The barcode library that we generate will be an important enabling tool for much research on coral reef fishes. It will aid taxonomic work by clarifying species boundaries and by revealing cryptic taxa. It will allow the association of larval and adult stages, will permit the identification of fragmentary specimens, and enable investigation of predator-prey interactions. Finally, our work will reveal much about the species ages and patterns of diversification in the most diverse marine fish assemblage.