Marine water (multi-species)

Metabarcoding products for detecting a broad range of species in marine water systems, such as oceans, seas, ports, harbours and estuarine areas.

Key info and overview of all marine water tests available at the bottom of this page. Scroll down below the product options to read key info on each test, plus an overview of our marine water offering.

The 'bacteria from tissue samples' test can be purchased only with another tissue sample test. It cannot be purchased individually. It can be purchased only as an 'add-on' to either the eukaryotes from tissue samples test or the invertebrates from tissue samples test. (We process the bacteria attached to other organisms in the sample.)

What do I receive?

For each product purchased, you will receive:

  • One sampling kit, to collect / store / transport your eDNA
  • One report per test ('assay')

Kit options

Aquatic: contains a hand-operated syringe, for manually pushing water through the kit's eDNA filter.

Aquatic - for pump: does not contain a hand-operated syringe. Instead contains tubing and adaptors for use with powered peristaltic pumps (e.g. Vampire Samplers). Pumps are not included and are not supplied by NatureMetrics.

Tissue: Contains a pot for safe storage and transport of tissue samples collected from e.g. kick-nets.

Regional considerations

All marine water and marine tissue sample tests can be used in marine water and estuarine systems across the globe.

Use the filters to select your kits & tests

Use the filters to select the right combination of kits & tests for your survey:
  • Kit: use this filter to select the correct kit for the type of sample you're working with
  • Test: use this filter to select all the tests ('assays') that are to be run on your sample (one kit = one sample)

Click on product names for more info

Click on a product name to go to the info page for that product.
Use the filters & 'sort by' to select your desired combination of kits + tests.
Each product consists of 1 kit + 1 report for each test.
Desired product combination not available? Please get in touch and we'll gladly set it up for you.

68 products

Marine water tests - key info

Vertebrates

Detects fish, amphibians and mammals, generally to species level. Some closely related fish species, such as perch and zander cannot be separated.

Terrestrial mammal eDNA can often end up in nearby water courses, so this test can have the added benefit of delivering detections for some terrestrial vertebrates.

Results are often comprised of a high percentage of fish species (especially ray-finned fish, Actinopterygii) and can include marine mammals, and high (family) level identification for some bird species.

Birds and reptiles can be detected, but this test should not be relied upon as a comprehensive test for these groups.

Fish

Optimised for ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii) such as tuna, seahorses, gobies, cichlids, flatfish, wrasse, perch, anglerfish and pufferfish.

This test does not perform as well for detecting sharks and rays.

In some cases, this test does not provide species level data, e.g. river lamprey and brook lamprey; ide and dace.

Mammals

Detects aquatic and semi-aquatic mammals, and many terrestrial mammals who have visited the water or are nearby – as terrestrial mammal eDNA can often end up in nearby water courses, via runoff.

Detection of terrestrial species can be sporadic as they are less likely to contact water and deposit eDNA. Detection of terrestrial species is dependent on the species either directly interacting with water and/or their eDNA being transported from other waterbodies/via runoff.

Invertebrates

Groups typically detected include crustaceans, tunicates, cnidarians (including jellyfish), annelids, molluscs, echinoderms, and sponges.

May also detect some vertebrate species.

When running this test on a tissue sample, please note: in order for it to be processed, the tissue must be larger than 0.3mm (300um).

Eukaryotes

Detects algae, macroalgae species (chlorophyta, phaeophyceae, rhodophyta), phytoplankton, zooplankton, protists, ciliates, dinoflagellates, diatoms, annelids, molluscs, crustaceans, tunicates, invertebrates and some cnidarians (including jellyfish) and sponges.

Due to the broad nature of this test, detections will generally be assigned to family or genus level. Test excludes bacteria and archaea. Can sometimes detect vertebrates and fungi.

When running this test on a tissue sample, please note: in order for it to be processed, the tissue must be larger than 0.3mm (300um).

Bacteria (from tissue samples)

Assess the community composition of the microbiome of your sample. Detects 99% of the bacteria in your sample. Generally identifies to the taxonomic level of 'family' or higher.

Can be purchased only in addition to either the eukaryotes from tissue samples or invertebrates from tissue samples tests. (We process the bacteria attached to other organisms in the sample.)

Marine water tests - overview

Kits

All tests (other than those from tissue samples) are available with either our standard aquatic kit or our aquatic kit - for pump.

The same choice of tests is available for aquatic kits as it is for the aquatic kit - for pump. Your choice of aquatic kit does not impact which tests are available.

The tissue kit is for use with tissue samples taken from either marine structures (e.g. ship hulls, port walls, artificial reefs, wind farm structures etc.) or from open water (e.g. plankton nets). The kit contains a pot, with preservation buffer inside, for safe storage and transport of your sample.

Kit instructions

Kit instructions available here.

DOT-NM autosampler kits

These are not currently available from this store. To purchase, please get in touch.

Bacteria from marine water

Our marine water bacteria kit and test combination is not currently available from this store. To purchase, please get in touch.