Production of clonal founders in the European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax L., by mitotic gynogenesis

Two progenies were found to be completely homozygous for the heterozygous maternal microsatellite alleles while, in the other two progenies, only 92% and 95% of the fish were fully homozygous, as 7 fishes were heterozygous at one locus, 6 at two, and 1 at three loci. Similar small percentages of triploid fish were found within the corresponding tetraploid controls. No increment of heterozygous or triploid fish was observed in successive samplings. In the most numerous progeny, 100 fish have been raised for 2 years and some of them are essentially of normal appearance. In these G2Ns, 16 double haplotypes were found on the basis of the 6 microsatellite loci analyzed. The possible use of G2Ns as clonal founders for sex control and performance improvement is discussed.