African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (8), pp. 1072-1076, 16 April 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Is the Dutch domesticated strain of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) a hybrid?

Nwafili Sylvanus Anene^1,2 and Gao Tianxiang¹*

¹Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao. 266003 P. R. China.

²Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, P. M. B. 5023, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: gaozhang@ouc.edu.cn. Tel: 86-532-82032076. Fax: +86-532-82032076.

Accepted 5 March, 2007

In a study of genetic characteristics of exotic Clarias gariepinus we obtained the animals from five hatcheries in Nigeria and sequenced 399 base pair of the cyt b gene. The results show that the exotic C. gariepinus clustered in two lineages: Clarias anguillaris (West Africa) and C. gariepinus (East Africa). First, this strain could be a hybrid between the two species since the original populations used for selection were from different sources including West Africa where both occur sympatrically. Alternatively, it has been contaminated via unwholesome practices.

Keywords: Clarias gariepinus, Holland Clarias, contaminated hatchery stock and hybrid.