Karyotype Analysis of Some Fresh Water Fishes ofMula and Mutha River Pune, Maharashtra

Abstract –
Karyological characters of 18 fishes from Mula and
Mutha River were studied by examining metaphase
chromosome spreads. Four species includes showed
good chromosomal spreads. Diploid chromosome
number of R. daniconius was 2n=75 whereas O.
bimaculatus showed 2n=48. Similarly, P. sophore and
M. cavasius showed 2n=50 and 2n=58 respectively.
For other fish species, we faced technical difficulties
which are discussed here with probable solutions on
them.
Keywords – Metaphase, karyotyping, Western Ghats,
Mula-mutha, freshwater fishes
I. Introduction
The Western Ghats of India is one among the 25
global biodiversity hot spots with a high degree of
endemism with rare, endemic and threatened species
of flora and fauna [1]. Such rich biodiversity and
endemism is the outcome of unique geological,
topographical and climatic conditions. Western
Ghats harbor 11% of world’s total ichthyofauna [2].
About 2000 freshwater fishes are known to occur
in India, of which 288 are endemic to the Western
Ghats [3], [4]. Studies dealing with compilation of
the endemic fishes from various streams and rivers
in the Western Ghats mountain ranges have been
carried out several times [5-10]. While a great deal of
attention has been given to the loss of biodiversity in
tropical rain forests, or in coastal areas, the diversity
of and within freshwaters has been widely neglected.
Fresh water fishes represent the most threatened
group of vertebrates[11]. In classifying the worlds’
top 25 biodiversity hot spots; vertebrate group was
considered excluding fish. This is mainly because of
the poorly available data wherein the author predicts
that there could be at least 5, 000 species waiting to
be discovered among fish, which is more than all
mammals