Scientists have employed genetic analysis to trace scalloped hammerhead shark fins from a Hong Kong fish market to the sharks' original populations, some of which are endangered and located in waters thousands of miles away.

The researchers analyzed mitochondrial DNA sequences, passed from mother to offspring, for 177 live scalloped hammerheads in the Western Atlantic. They also took fingernail-sized DNA samples from 62 shark fins of this species obtained at a Hong Kong fish market.

A comparison of the two sets of data, along with information from prior research, revealed that the market fins came from populations in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific.

Twenty-one percent of the Hong Kong market fins were found to have originated in waters off of coastlines of the United States, Belize, Panama and Brazil in places where the shark has been categorized as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Lead author the new study just published in the journal Endangered Species Research Demian Chapman who is an assistant director at Stony Brook University's Institute for Ocean Conservation Science plan to propose at the March 2010 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Qatar that scalloped hammerheads should be listed under the organization's Appendix II, which would require permits for, and monitoring of, all trade in the species across international boundaries.

Scalloped hammerhead fins are among the most sought after delicacies by cooks since they help to create a particularly thick, gelatinous soup. Just 2.2 pounds of the coveted fins can sell for $120 U.S. dollars in Asian markets.

"The premium prices commanded by fins have fueled a global shark hunt of epic proportion," said Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, which funded a portion of the research.