Study of the Genetic Diversity of the Ornamental Fish Badis badis (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) in the Terai Region of Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, India

Abstract

Dwarf chameleon fish or Badis badis , a lesser known ornamental freshwater fish, has recently been included in the Indian threatened category of fish list. There are insufficient studies with regard to the assessment of genetic background of this ichthyofauna, especially in the western sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal, India, popularly known as the Terai. The present study is the first attempt to investigate the present status of the genetic background of this species in the Mahananda and Balason rivers, major streams of this region. Twenty-one selective RAPD primers generated 53 and 60 polymorphic fragments in the Mahananda and Balason populations, respectively. The proportion of polymorphic loci, Nei’s genetic diversity ( H ), and Shannon’s index ( H ′ ) were 0.4416, 0.1654 ± 0.2023 , and 0.2450 ± 0.2907 , respectively, in Mahananda river population and were 0.5041, 0.1983 ± 0.2126 , and 0.2901 ± 0.3037 , respectively, in Balason river population. Inbreeding coefficient and degree of gene differentiation were also calculated. The H and H ′ were found to be 0.1601 ± 0.1944 and 0.2363 ± 0.2782 , respectively, in overall Mahananda-Balason river system. Our study revealed considerable lack of genetic variation among the individuals of Badis badis . The genetic data obtained from the present study lend support to the view that there is a scope of stock improvement for this ichthyofauna.