| Summary: | Several unknown Ciona sp. (an invasive tunicate species) individuals were sampled along the southwestern coast of Iceland. As four different cryptic Ciona species have been described, the objective of the project was to identify the species of Ciona found in Iceland and its origin. For this, DNA was extracted from the sampled individuals and PCR was made for two different mitochondrial DNA markers (COX3-ND1 and COI), successful PCR products were sent for sequencing and the sequences obtained were compared and analysed with sequences from published studies and which were downloaded from GenBank. 12 sequences were obtained, 11 of which corresponding to the COX3-ND1 marker and the other one to the COI marker, therefore the results of this project depend mainly on the COX3-ND1 sequences. The results identified the Ciona specimens in Iceland as Ciona intestinalis, formerly known as Ciona intestinalis type A. Phylogeographic comparisons with the sequences of C. intestinalis, revealed that the sequences obtained in Iceland were most related to sequences previously sampled in Nova Scotia, English Channel and Denmark. However due to the high haplotype diversity at the given locations, having just 12 samples and knowing the ability of the species to invade places by navigating from one country to another, it would be too adventurous to determine the origin of the Icelandic population. Finally, low yield in the PCR in this project could be explained by the existence of an inhibitor preventing the amplification. Therefore, another DNA extraction method could have been used to obtain better results.
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