Karyotype similarity between two sympatric Schizodon fish species (Anostomidae, Characiformes) from the Paraguay River basin

Fish of the neotropical family Anostomidae generally show low karyotype variability. Nevertheless, karyotype variants have been identified within some genera, providing information about their evolutionary history. Species of the genus Schizodon show a high degree of morphological and ecological similarity compared to other anostomids. In the present study, karyotype characteristics of Schizodon borelli (40 individuals) and S. isognathum (one individual), two sympatric species found in the Paraguay River basin, were studied. C-banding, GC-specific fluorochrome Mitramycin (MM) and Ag staining as well as in situ hybridization (FISH) with rDNA probes were used. The karyotypes of these species were found to be very similar. Only two NORs were detected in a common chromosome pair of both species under Ag, MM and FISH treatments. Similar heterochromatin distribution patterns were also observed. A parallelism between the small karyotype variation and low morphological and ecological divergence observed for this genus is discussed. Their karyotype homogeneity might be related to populational features or, alternatively, might indicate that the maintenance of a symmetric and conserved karyotype structure represents optimal genomic organization among these fish.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Martins,Cesar, Galetti Jr.,Pedro Manoel
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Genética 1998
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47571998000300011
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