The African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) has been introduced several times to Indonesia, including from Thailand (Paiton strain). The breeding of Paiton strain resulted in albino individuals. The present study aimed to investigate the length-weight relationship, condition factor and biometric characteristic of those albinos. Five pairs of each albino and normal coloured Paiton African catfish were artificially bred. Larvae and juveniles from each pair were reared one month of larval rearing phase, one month of nursery phase and two months of grow-out phase, then the total length and body weight were measured for length-weight relationship and condition factor analysis, finally the biometric was characterized. The present study revealed that the relationship between total length (L) and body weight (W) of the Paiton African catfish was positive allometric (W = 0.0038L3.23 in the albino and W = 0.0027L3.27 in the normal coloured one). The albino Paiton African catfish was more rotund (condition factor of 0.79±0.07) than the normal colored one (condition factor of 0.68±0.06). Biometrically, the albino Paiton African catfish has a bigger head portion and fewer dorsal and anal fin rays than those of the normal coloured one. Despite the colour difference, the albino and normal coloured Paiton African catfish were morphologically different.

Egyptian African catfish is one of several African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) strains introduced to Indonesia. Several breeding activities using that strain in Sukamandi resulted in some individuals with redish-yellow body colour (a red strain). Biological informations related to aquacultural aspects of that red strain were still scarce. The present study aimed to elucidate the embryonic and larval developments of the red strain compared to those of the black (normal coloured) one, using the progenies obtained from artificial spawning of each red and black coloured brooders. Results of the present study revealed that embryonic developments of the red and black strains were similar. Their larval development were also quite similar, however, both larvae could be distinguished based on the pigmentation. The red strain larvae were golden-red-yellowish in colour, while the black strain larvae were greyish covered with dense melanophores. Total length of the red strain larvae tended to be lower than those of the black strain.

Ikan lele Mutiara merupakan strain baru ikan lele Afrika Clarias gariepinus hasil pemuliaan yang memiliki keunggulan karakteristik budidaya. Selain karakteristik budidayanya, karakteristik morfologis dan genetis ikan lele Mutiara juga perlu dibandingkan dengan strain yang lain. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis karakteristik morfologis ikan lele Mutiara (melalui uji morfometrik dan meristik), serta karakteristik genetis menggunakan marka DNA mikrosatelit dibandingkan dengan ikan lele Mesir, Paiton, Sangkuriang, dan Dumbo yang merupakan induk-induk pembentuknya. Karakterisasi morfometrik dilakukan melalui pengukuran terhadap 20 karakter, sedangkan karakterisasi meristik dilakukan melalui penghitungan terhadap lima karakter sesuai metode standar karakterisasi biometrik-morfologis ikan lele. Data karakteristik morfometrik dan meristik dievaluasi dengan menggunakan analisis komponen utama. Hasil karakterisasi morfologis menunjukkan bahwa karakteristik morfometrik dan meristik ikan lele Mutiara tidak dapat dibedakan dari ikan lele Mesir, Paiton, Sangkuriang, dan Dumbo. Karakterisasi secara genetis dengan menggunakan empat primer DNA mikrosatelit untuk ikan lele Afrika (Cga01, Cga02, Cga05, dan Cga09) menunjukkan bahwa ikan lele Mutiara memiliki keragaman genetis (jumlah alel dan heterozigositas) yang relatif lebih tinggi daripada ikan lele Mesir, Paiton, Sangkuriang, dan Dumbo.

Indonesia is rich of giant fresh water prawn (GFP) germ plasms. Best utilization of these resources for the purpose of either aquaculture development or conservation of genetic resources requires some information on the structure and levels of their genetic diversity. This study was aimed to characterize those GFP genetic resources by applying RAPD genetic markers. Six Indonesian populations of GFP from Asahan, Barito, Ciasem, Ogan, GImacro and Papua were collected and analyzed for their genetic variation using five RAPD primers. The results showed the diversity within the populations, as revealed by the level of polymorphism, ranged from 29% to 76% while genetic divergence between populations as shown by genetic distance ranged from 0.04 to 0.50. In terms of genetic divergence, two genetically distinct groups of GFP, namely the Papua GFP in one group and the remaining five GFP populations in the other, were identified. The results also showed the presence of specific population markers that are useful for genetic identification of GFP populations. Implication of these finding with regard to breed development is discussed.

One of the important issues in catfish farming is motile aeromonad septicaemia (MAS) disease caused by the bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila. This study aimed to find the MHC-II marker potential for marker-based selection to generate MAS disease resistance of African catfish. PCR method was applied to identify catfish (body length: 7-8 cm) population that have MHC-II marker. Fish with and without the marker were then challenged by intraperitonially injecting of 0.1 mL/fish with A. hydrophila (10 5 cfu/mL). The results showed that the survival of fish having MHC-II marker (77.50 ± 4.00%) was higher than that of fish without the marker (53.33 ± 4.77%). Fish carrying MHC-II marker fish has also higher total erythrocytes, total leukocytes, phagocytic activity, and hematocrit levels than that of fish without the marker. The PCR results using specific primer for MHC-II showed a specific DNA band of 426 bp in fish having the marker, while there were no DNA bands in fish without the marker. Results of the PCR analyses showed that the percentage of progenies carrying MHC-II marker was 80%, while progenies from broodstock without the marker was 0%; this indicated that MHC-II marker could be inherited to the offsprings. Thus, the MHC-II marker could be used as a molecular marker of MAS disease resistance catfish.

African catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822) has become a great important species in Indonesian aquaculture. Several strains of the African catfish have been introduced to Indonesia for aquaculture purposes, initiated by Dumbo strain from Taiwan in 1985, followed by Paiton strain from Thailand in 1998, then Egypt strain from Egypt in 2007, Masamo strain from Thailand in 2010 and later Kenya strain from Kenya in 2011. Since its introductions, there were no reports yet on their characterization studies. The present study was conducted to morphologically characterize the strains of African catfish introduced to Indonesia, i.e. Dumbo, Paiton, Egypt, Masamo, and Kenya strains. Morphometric and meristic data obtained were analyzed using Principal Component Analysis. Results of the morphometric characterization in the present study revealed that Dumbo, Paiton, Masamo, and Kenya strains were indistinguishable, while morphometric characteristic of Egypt strain was more or less different from those of the other strains. On the other hand, results of the meristic characterization suggested that meristic characteristics of all strains of the introduced African catfish were not different from each other. Therefore, to keep the genetic purity of those introduced strains, they should be properly maintained in isolated places.

Salah satu keberhasilan pembentukan ikan transgenik ditandai dengan kemampuan dari individu transgenik tersebut untuk mewariskan transgen pada keturunannya. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengevaluasi transmisi dan ekspresi transgen (PhGh) dari generasi F-1 ke F-2 serta mengetahui distribusi transgen pada berbagai organ. Deteksi transgen dilakukan pada larva, benih, dan berbagai organ ikan lele generasi F-2 (pituitari, otak, timus, jantung, limfa, hati, ginjal, lambung, usus, gonad, otot, kulit insang, dan sirip ekor) menggunakan metode PCR. Ekspresi transgen pada larva dan organ ikan lele transgenik F-2 dideteksi menggunakan metode reverse transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Level ekspresi pada organ dianalisis menggunakan metode qPCR, gen β-aktin digunakan sebagai kontrol internal. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa sebanyak 65 ekor induk betina transgenik F-1 positif membawa transgen di sirip ekor, hanya 18 ekor (27,69%) induk betina yang positif membawa transgen di telur. Sedangkan pada induk jantan hanya 19 ekor (46,34%) yang positif membawa transgen di sperma, dari 41 ekor yang positif membawa transgen di sirip. Transgen dapat terdeteksi pada larva dan sirip ekor ikan lele transgenik F-2 dengan persentase transmisinya adalah 8,11%-50% dengan rata-rata transmisi transgen sebesar 18,85%. Deteksi dan distribusi transgen ditemukan pada larva dan organ pituitari, hati, ginjal, gonad, otot, otak, timus, jantung, limfa, lambung, usus, insang, dan sirip ekor, tetapi transgen tidak ditemukan pada kulit ikan. Level ekspresi transgen tertinggi ditemukan pada hati sebesar 7,3±2,2 pg/μg cDNA – 9,2±2,7 pg/μg cDNA; sedangkan ekspresi terendah ditemukan pada ginjal berkisar 0,19±0,01 pg/μg cDNA – 0,2±0,03 pg/μg cDNA; dan insang sebesar 0,2±0,01 pg/μg cDNA.

Lele Dumbo was used to be a superior clariid catfish ardely cultured in Indonesia. Despite its aquaculture success, there was uncertainty about its taxonomic identity, whether it belongs to an African catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell 1822) or a hybrid resulted from a hybridization between African catfish C. gariepinus and an Asian catfish C. fuscus. Though lele Dumbo was no longer popular, the genetic improvement program has successfully developed lele Sangkuriang strain, and that have recently been extensively cultivated in Indonesia. As a lele Dumbo strain, the identity of lele Sangkuriang is also uncertain, thus need to be verified. The present study aimed to investigate the similarity of lele Dumbo through morphometric and meristic characterizations using samples of lele Sangkuriang (collected from BBPBAT Sukabumi, BPBAT Cijengkol and PT STP) compared to those of African catfish C. gariepinus introduced from Thailand and Kenya. The characterizations were carried out through measurement of 20 standard morphometric characters and five meristic characters the data obtained were then analyzed using principal component analysis. The results suggested that the values of morphometric and meristic characters of all three samples of lele Sangkuriang were not different from those of African catfish C. gariepinus. Likewise, the results of principal component analysis performed on morphometric and meristic characters also revealed that morphometric and meristic characteristics of all three samples of lele Sangkuriang were not different from those of African catfish C. gariepinus. Those results revealed that biometric characteristic of both lele Dumbo and African catfish C. gariepinus was not different, thus they seem belong to the same species.