Document Type

Article

Publication Date

December 2008

Abstract

Of the numerous subtropical and tropical freshwater speciesof fish, labyrinth fish are among the most varied in bodymarkings and colouration patterns. Four taxonomic families(Belontiidae, Anabantidae, Helostomatidae, and Osphrone-midae) of the suborder Anabantoidei comprise the ‘tradi-tional’ labyrinth fishes, a group of about 80 African andSoutheast Asian species (Linke 1991). These Anabantoidsare popular with aquarists due to their interesting reproduc-tive behaviours, with males of most species brooding eggs intheir mouths or in floating bubble nests (Vevers 1980; Linke1991; Axelrod and Vorderwinkler 1995; Mills 2000). Theyhave also been the focus of genetic, environmental, and mor-phological studies (Sommer 1982; Gosline 1985; Klinkhardtet al. 1995; Wakiyamaet al. 1997; Frankel 1992, 2001,2005).The honey gourami,Trichogaster chunaHamilton (Os-phronemidae), is a popular labyrinth fish due to its peacefulnature, and the bright and attractive appearance of sexuallymature males. As a result of ongoing work on the inheritance of coloura-tion and banding patterns of teleostean fishes (Frankel 1992,1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005), studies on the modeof inheritance of the ‘yellow’ colour variant inT. chunawereundertaken. The segregation patterns observed in the maleprogeny from fifteen different crosses are consistent with ahypothesis that the inheritance of these colour phenotypes iscontrolled by the action of a single, autosomal locus actingin a sex-limited fashion, with dominance required for the ex-pression of the characteristic red-orange ‘chuna’ colouration.

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