The FDA Reference Standard Sequence Library for Seafood Identification (RSSL). Fish and invertebrates

The FDA maintains this database for the purpose of seafood identification using standardized gene fragments for DNA barcoding. For animals, a fragment (655 base pairs starting near the 5' end) of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 mitochondrial gene (CO1) has been shown to provide reliable species level discrimination in most cases. For some groups, additional reference gene regions have been established. For example, for certain species of shrimp a 475 base pair fragment of the COI gene starting near the 3' end has also been shown to be effective for identifying species. In this database, the standard 5' COI barcode fragment is provided for all specimens; in addition, an alternative 3' COI fragment is provided for some shrimp species.