DNA barcoding and delimitation of critically endangered indigenous and introduced tilapias (pisces cichlidae) of Pangani catchment, Northern Tanzania.

The Pangani catchment of Northern Tanzania harbours the critically endangered endemic tilapias of the genus . The introduction of non-native congenerics and consequent hybridization complicates taxa identification and phylogeny based on morphological systematics. We therefore morphologically and molecularly identified these tilapias and delimited their Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) based on Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I (CO1) gene for future management and conservation.