Determination of Tetraploidy in Cultivated Fish
Tetraploid fish are particularly useful in situations where it is
not desirable to have rapidly breeding fish introduced into a new
environment. Further, because these fish are sterile, they grow
more rapidly and contain a higher amount of protein than regular
diploid fish. The process involved in producing tetraploid fish is
of interest to scientist in the School of Agriculture. A new
technique has been developed with the Cytometry Laboratories to
determine ploidy of these fish within a couple of days of
hatching, eliminating the need to wait several weeks for the fish
to grow to sufficient size. This project has other implications -
it is also possible to distinguish many strains of fish very
rapidly by their DNA content. Associate Faculty include
Professor Chris Bidwell (Animal Science).
