Investigating the cause of Depleting Zobaidy (Silver pomfret) Populations in the Gulf

Locally referred to as Zobaidy, the population of Silver pomfret in the Kuwaiti Gulf has considerably declined for several reasons. Addressing this concern, the Biotechnology Program launched an investigation to determine the cause of depleting Zobaidy stock in order to support the sustainable management of their population and protect their presence in Kuwaiti waters as a natural resource. As part of its research into the Zobaidy population, molecular studies were conducted to investigate and characterize the Zobaidy populations in Kuwait and Iran. The study resulted in the first successful genome sequencing of the Zobaidy and it was found that there was a considerably high variation within the population of Zobaidy from both Kuwait and Iran. Additionally, it showed that the two fish were not genetically distinct populations in the Arabian Gulf.