I. N. Moreva, O. A. Radchenko - Karyotypes of the Sailfin Sculpins Hemitripterus villosus (Pallas, 1814), Blepsias cirrhosus (Pallas, 1814), and B. bilobus Cuvier, 1829 (Actinopterygii: Hemitripteridae)

BIOLOGIYA MORYA, 2025, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 232-236

Karyotypes of the Sailfin Sculpins Hemitripterus villosus (Pallas, 1814), Blepsias cirrhosus (Pallas, 1814), and B. bilobus Cuvier, 1829 (Actinopterygii: Hemitripteridae)

¹Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, 690041 Russia;
²Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Magadan, 685000 Russia

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The karyotypes of the sailfin sculpins Blepsias bilobus and B. cirrhosus were studied for the first time, and the chromosome set of Hemitripterus villosus was analyzed. It was found that the karyotypes of these species are stable and consist of 46 chromosomes (2n) in H. villosus: 4 metacentric (M), 32 subtelocentric (ST), and 10 acrocentric (A); the number of chromosome arms (NF) is 50. In Blepsias bilobus, the chromosome set is 2n = 48 (34 ST and 14 A chromosomes), NF = 48; in B. cirrhosus, 2n = 48 (36 ST and 12 A chromosomes), NF = 48. Based on comparative karyological analysis, common features were identified that confirm the close relationships between B. bilobus and B. cirrhosus, and the taxonomic proximity of H. villosus to species of the genus Blepsias. The features that allow differentiation of the studied species were also determined.

Key words: karyogram, chromosome morphology, marker chromosomes, fishes.