• Development and Reproduction
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 2000

Four clonal lines of ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis, were produced through gynogenesis, mixed before hatching and reared communally. After 10 months, a randomly taken sample was subjected to a standardized shallow water stressor. Hematocrit, hemoglobin, red blood cells count (RBC) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) were obtained from stressed and non-stressed fish. DNA fingerprinting was used to confirm the clonal nature of the organisms and to identified the clonal line to which each fish belonged. 1 observed significant differences between clona] lines mostly in the hematocrit and MCV measured under no-stress conditions. Such differences are suggested to represent mainly genetic variance, on account of the common environment provided to all the experimental groups. The stress response ratio was lower than expected, mainly due to some unexpectedly high non-stress values. Heritability values (h$^2$) were medium to high for the no-stress measurements (mean 0.238) and very low or zero for the stressed groups'traits (excepting one high value of 0.484). 1 conclude that the use of communally reared clonal lines represents a good tool for the characterization of the physiological traits, thus allowing for their utilization as genetic selection criteria.