Chromosome analysis of Reba carp, Cirrhinus reba

Abstract

Chromosome analysis is useful in different cytogenetics and genomics studies for
various purposes e.g., linkage analysis, evolutionary studies and species identification and
classification. Metaphase squash method using colchicine has been used for long time primarily
for identifying chromosome number for many fishes from larval stage. Although majority of the
Indian major carps have undergone such investigation, Cirrhinus reba, an important minor carp
of Bangladesh is yet to be investigated. We investigated into the chromosome number and an
effective concentration of colchicine solution along with duration of treatment in this study.
Exposure to both 0.03% and 0.05 % colchicine for the duration of 6 and 4 h produced good
quality chromosome spreads. The chromosome number obtained in the diploid (2n) individuals in
this study was 50 which is very similar to other Cirrhinus species. The present results suggest
basic information of chromosome number on which furtherinvestigation including detail
karyotype analysis ofC. reba and other related fish species can be done for cytogenetic studies.