Identification of fish species by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode-array detection.

A method for the separation of sarcoplasmic fish proteins by RP-HPLC is described. The procedure revealed significant differences useful for reliable identification of fish species. Sixteen of the most common Finnish freshwater fish species were differentiated by species-specific HPLC chromatograms obtained using photodiode-array detection (PAD) at 200-350 nm. The analytical column was a Hi-Pore RP-304 reversed-phase column. The separation was performed by a linear gradient of acetonitrile and water with a small amount of trifluoracetic acid (TFA). Star-symbol plots were constructed from the chromatograms to visualize the data. Clearly different HPLC protein profiles for most fish species were obtained. The chromatograms of salmonoids show similarities, whereas the protein profiles of cyprinids are dissimilar. Minor intraspecific differences were obtained for three types of powan (Coregonus lavaretus).