Molecular and cytogenetic description of four marine fish species from Indian coast

1110-1115In the present study, cytogenetic and molecular characterization of four ornamental marine fish species, namely Chaetodon collare, Plectorhinchus gibbosus, Scarus ghobban and Siganus canaliculatus inhabiting Arabian Sea, were carried out. Karyotype analyses of these species revealed diploid chromosome number 48 with all acrocentric, except in S. ghobban having karyotypic formula of 10m+4sm+12st+22t. Chromosomal configuration of C. collare, P. gibbosus and S. canaliculatus indicated more or less similar genetic makeup among them, than that of S. ghobban. Analyses of ITS 2 region in these species indicated phylogenetic closeness of P. gibbosus with S. ghobban and C. collare with S. canaliculatus with an average evolutionary divergence of 6.8% among them