Chromosome differentiation in the subantarctic Bovichtidae species Cottoperca gobio (Günther, 1861) and Pseudaphritis urvillii (Valenciennes, 1832) (Pisces, Perciformes)

Abstract

A cytogenetic study on the bovichtid species Cottoperca gobio from the Magellan Strait and Pseudaphritis urvillii from Tasmania showed both species have a plesiomorphic number of chromosomes (2n=48). However, C.gobio has a more conservative karyotype composed entirely of acrocentric chromosomes (Fundamental Number=48); the presence of two metacentric pairs in P. urvilli (FN=52) makes this species karyologically more derived. The differences in the number of chromosomal arms, and the chromosomal location of the nucleolar organizer regions indicate karyological divergence in the two separating stocks from which C.gobio and P.urvillii originated. During the diversification of this notothenioid family, probably coincident with the fragmentation of Gondwana, the stock that split off with the Australian Plate gave rise to the Tasmanian species and experienced more chromosomal modifications than the stock from which C. gobio is derived. The pattern of constitutive heterochromatin suggests a possible homology between a pair of chromosomes in bovichtids and other notothenioids.