CHROMOSOME STUDY OF HYBRID AND GYNOGENETIC OFFSPRING OF ARTIFICIAL CROSSES BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE CATFISH FAMILIES CLARIIDAE AND PANGASIIDAE

Artificial hybridization between species of the catfish families Clariidae (Clarias macrocephalus) and Pangasiidae (Pangasius sutchi) resulted in first generation offspring comprising two intermediate morphotypes and one morphotype indistinguishable from its clariid parent. The two intermediate morphotypes apparently correspond to hybrid morphotypes 2 and 4 resulting from earlier hybridization experiments between the same parent species (Tarnchalanukit 1986). We did not obtain morphotypes 1 and 3. Chromosome spreads of the relatively pangasiid-like morphotype 2 reveal a diploid number of 57, presumably comprising one set of Clarias (n = 27) and one of Pangasius (n = 30) chromosomes. The relatively clariid-like morphotype 4 is a triploid with 84 chromosomes, presumably comprising two sets from Clarias (2n = 54) and one from Pangasius (n = 30). Finally, the morphotype indistinguishable from Clarias, is a diploid with 54 chromosomes, apparently arising from gynogenesis.