S. Rezvani Gilkolaie - Iranian Fisheries Research and Training Organisation, P. O. Box: ۱۴۱۵۵-۶۱۱۶, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Samples from five sturgeon species including Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus), Russian sturgeon (A. gueldenstaedti), Great sturgeon (Huso huso),Ship sturgeon (A. nudi-ventris) and Stellate sturgeon (A. stellatus) were collected from the South Caspian Sea. DNA was extracted from the fins, eggs and skeleton muscle of the five species. RAPD markers were used for identifying different kinds of black caviar and sturgeon meat. The polymorphic band from RAPD amplification of DNA from two out of five sturgeon spe-cies was purified, cloned and sequenced. RAPD analysis was carried out in order to com-pare the five species using an operon primer set. Sequence Characterised Amplifed Re-gion (SCAR) primers were designed and used to amplify caviar DNA from five sturgeon species. A marker of potential economic importance was discovered that is able to distin-guish three species from caviar and also to distinguish Ship sturgeon caviar from osetra caviar (from Russian and Persian sturgeon) and also other species. This marker could as-sist international conservation and legal efforts to save what is left of the commercial Ship sturgeon populations which are endangered and whose caviar is at present substituted for the more expensive osetra caviar.

Caspian Sea, DNA Marker, Sturgeon Species