Chromosome preparations of the Olympia oyster Ostrea conchaphila Carpenter were studied using conventional Giemsa, silver staining, and C-banding techniques. The karyotype consists of six metacentric (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10) and four submetacentric (3, 5, 7, 9) chromosome pairs. The silver-stained nucleolus organizer regions (Ag-NORs) were terminally located on the short arms of the submetacentric pair 5 (56% of cases) and on the long arms of submetacentric pair 7 (6% of cases). Constitutive heterochromatin was observed as telomeric C-bands on the short arm of the NOR-bearing chromosome pair 5 and as centromeric blocks of several chromosome pairs. Comparative analysis of patterns of karyotype, Ag-NORs, and C-bands of this species and of five other flat... |