Effect of X-rays on the somatic chromosomes of the exotic fish, Tilapia mossambica

Abstract

Male and female T. mossambica were x-rayed with 100 r and the meta-phase chromosome aberrations in their gill epithelia were studied at 13 different intervals against suitable control. The chromosomes of males appeared more radiosensitive than those of females. Among the diploid complement of 44 chromosomes, the individual type aberrations were non-random in both sexes. The longest pair of chromosomes, taken as the marker pair, was found very highly radio-sensitive, while the remaining 21 pairs as non-markers were somewhat resistant to x-radiation when the observed and the expected numbers were subjected to statistical analysis. The break in the marker chromosome was also non-randomly distributed as the distal half had a significantly large number of breaks.