Aquarium exhibit helps scientists test new method for ocean life surveys.

DNA sequencing has made major leaps forward since the Human Genome Project wrapped up in 2003. What just a decade ago was a really expensive, exclusive technology is now available to anyone for about the cost of dinner and a movie.

That affordability enabled international conservation nonprofit Oceana to get thousands of pieces of fish flesh DNA tested to create a city-by-city portrait of "seafood fraud," the surprisingly common practice of labeling fish something it's not. (Like the Seafood sushi joint selling "snapper" that turned out to be farmed tilapia, as the Weekly reported in 2013.)

And it let companies like 23andMe.com offer personalized health and ancestry data to customers for only $99—though the FDA blocked the health reports last November.

But what scientists are doing now is seriously wild. It's called environmental DNA sampling, or eDNA, and it lets researchers learn about entire biological communities just by analyzing the surroundings. A bit of soil, for example, can contain bits of shed skin and poop that help identify the animals in that habitat.

Scientists have been using eDNA techniques on land for some years. Now, they're doing it in the water. And the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a perfect "field" to test the concept. 

In a paper published last January in the scientific journal PLOS One, researchers led by the University of Washington's Ryan Kelly report they were able to identify bony fish in the Aquarium's 1.2-million-gallon Open Sea tank just by sampling the water.

Writer Amy Mathews Amos underscores the importance of that finding on ENSIA.com:

"Results from studies in freshwater ecosystems are promising. Researchers have detected invasive sunfish in Japanese ponds and secretive amphibians in Rocky Mountain streams using eDNA," she writes.

"Its potential in marine ecosystems is even more alluring. The ability to assess wild fish stocks is becoming increasingly important as commercial fisheries collapse worldwide, and coral reefs threatened by climate change, coastal pollution, overfishing and invasive species need careful monitoring to protect their diverse ecosystems. Yet traditional marine surveys typically require expensive boats, nets and other gear that cash-strapped researchers might not have."