The demand for seafood has increased remarkably, and because of this, industries have diversified the presentation of fish, offering products processed as fillets, for example. This tendency on the one hand stimulates consumption, but on the other reduces its reliability since processed fish have high replacement rates. The process removes parts of the body used to recognize the species, and then the identification is compromised, especially in a large group of fish with morphological similarities, as is the case of the red snappers of Lutjanidae family. These fish have large worldwide economic interest, and in Brazil the most popular species is the Pargo - Lutjanus purpureus. There are several other factors that favor the replacement of this species: Joint capture the other snappers, inaccurate statistical record, popular nomenclature standard out and mislabelling of product. Therefore, this study investigated whether the fillets sold in supermarkets in Bragança-PA, under the label of "Pargo", to belong to species L. purpureus. Through DNA barcode method was able to detect 22% of the sampled fillets corresponded to the species Rhomboplites aurorubens, low commercial value snapper in the region. The results point to the need to prevent such practices, and provide grant to help fight the replacements, with the competent bodies, industry and supermarkets. Despite the effectiveness of barcode DNA technique for identification, there are more practical and inexpensive methods that have been suggested for the development of authentication protocols fishery products, such as those based on multiplex PCR. In view of the numerous reports of fraud in derivative products snappers, we developed a protocol for forensic identification banding pattern, for three of the main species of red marketed in Brazil: L. purpureus, L. synagris and Ocyurus chrysurus. This protocol is an alternative to be applied both for the supervision, in the search for replacement and so on protection of consumer rights; as in routine commercial and industrial sectors, in order to control quality and ensure the authenticity of products.
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