Chapter 4 Progress in Carp Genetics Research

Ten years ago, very little was known about the genetics of most of the cyprinid species of interest to aquaculture in Asia, for example the Chinese carps, silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) and grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella); Indian major carps, catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus cirrhosus); and the silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus). The exceptions to this would have been the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and the goldfish (Carassius auratus). Still relatively little is known about the genetics of most of these species, but significant progress has been made in the last decade. Valuable information about the genetic structure of wild and captive populations and traits of interest to aquaculture are now becoming available and our knowledge of these areas should increase greatly over the next decade, as should the applications of genetics to the aquaculture of cyprinids.