Sea Cucumber from Talaud Islands: Morphological Characteristics and DNA Barcoding

The recent research on sea cucumber biodiversity in the Wallacea Zone and Sulawesi Sea reveals limited diversity and abundance across different locations. Research has been conducted to determine the species status of sea cucumbers from the Talaud Islands by comparing morphological data and molecular barcoding using the CO1 gene. The morphological study of sea cucumbers was carried out in situ in their natural habitat on Kabaruan Island and Napombaru Island, Talaud Islands Regency. Molecular barcoding consists of the stages of genomic DNA extraction, amplification of the CO1 gene using the PCR method, visualization of the amplicon through gel electrophoresis, nucleotide sequencing using the Sanger Sequencing method, and bioinformatics analysis using BLAST NCBI and the BOLD System tools. The research results indicate that based on the molecular barcode of the CO1 gene, the sea cucumber from the Talaud Islands shows differences in species similarity using the bioinformatics tools BLAST NCBI and the BOLD System. BLAST NCBI indicates a species similarity with Holothuria atra, while the BOLD System shows a species similarity with H. leucospilota. Based on morphological identification using identification key books and online literature, the samples HANA and HADE show a species similarity with H. atra.