First Record of the Inheritance Pattern of Leucism in the Bagrid Catfish Pseudobagrus ichikawai, an Endangered Species

Abstract

This is the first report of the inheritance pattern of leucism in Pseudobagrus ichikawai, an endangered species inhabiting the Toyo River. A leucistic male fish of this species, which was caught in June 2007, had a pale yellow body and blackish eyes. Two male-female pairs of normal individuals were also caught from the same area where the leucistic individual was caught. Leucistic and normal juveniles were obtained by mating these pairs. In these juveniles, the segregation ratio for the leucistic to normal phenotype was approximately 1:3. This result suggests that the leucism trait shows an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance in P. ichikawai.