Research lines

The Fish Morphological and Molecular Biotaxonomy Research Group (BIMOPE) develops a research line primarily focused on the taxonomy, systematics, biology, and relationships of fish with the environment.

The research conducted by the Group is designed to address two fundamental aspects: scientific and technological.

From the scientific aspect, the results will provide an integrated knowledge of the Diversity of Fish in Argentina. This encompasses not only taxonomic and nomenclatural aspects but also a systematic perspective, incorporating characteristics of life history, phylogeny, ecology, morphometrics, and molecular data. The acquired information also enables the creation of an electronic database. This database includes a specific genetic barcode based on the gene sequencing of cox I (DNA Barcoding), digitized images of reference specimens, and the geographical coordinates of the collected samples. The database, in turn, links information on reference specimens, nomenclatural aspects, distribution ranges provided by expert taxonomists, life histories, and bibliographic references for each species. This information will complement the current state of knowledge of Argentinean fish fauna.

From the technological aspect, the BIMOPE Group is in charge of one of the five recently constructed reference iBOL laboratories (iBOL Lab Mar del Plata). This will allow for the application of taxonomic knowledge to identify biological specimens, with immediate applications in the fields of fisheries biology and the Administration of Biological Diversity. The results obtained will provide information on biodiversity aspects, as well as on fishery resources and products, whether industrialized or not. Furthermore, the DNA Barcode is generating a global reference library of sequences, which is freely and openly accessible. In this way, the work is closely linked to the traceability and certification of species and products.