A Comparative Morphological Analysis of the Clonal Progeny from a Female Hybrid Sterlet Acipenser ruthenus × Kaluga A. dauricus (Acipenseridae): The Genetic and Modification Variability in a Number of Quantitative Morphological Traits

Abstract

The clonal progeny of a female hybrid sterlet Acipenser ruthenus × kaluga A. dauricus and the same-age backcross hybrids (sterlet × kaluga) × kaluga have been analyzed for variability in morphometric traits. The heritability indices have been inferred from the dispersion values obtained. It has been shown that the clonal progeny does not differ from the backcrosses by lower variability in morphological traits, which is explained by the manifestation of the phenomenon of the relationship between heterozygosity and stability of development. The low values of the heritability index estimated for most traits agree with the general idea of the high modification variability in measurable traits. The tendency of the traits having a diagnostic value to a higher heritability is hardly expressed in the material studied, which is possibly due to the small number of the analyzed characteristics.