Cyprinidae: Rasbora Maculata

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Rasbora Maculata

The Japanese rose bitterling, Rhodeus ocellatus kurumeus, is an endangered cyprinid species. The main reason of drastic diminution of R. o. kurumeus has been suggested to be due to hybridization between this subspecies and R. o. ocellatus introduced from China. Both RFLP analysis of mitochondrial DNA and RAPD-PCR analysis of genomic DNA were performed to elucidate the genetic introgression of R. o. ocellatus into R. o. kurumeus. The two subspecies were distinguished in the D-loop region of mtDNA by six restriction endonucleases. Rhodeus o. kurumeus had eleven subspecies-specific RAPD markers and R. o. ocellatus had two. Except some R. o. kurumeuspopulations, most of the populations of R. ocellatus in Japan were hybrids, equipped with subspecies-