CHAPTER-7: Sex and Sexually in Fishes

Prepared by: Dr. Md. Ariful Alam, Associate Professor

Sex and Sexually in Fishes

Sex: The state of condition of an organism which causes to expression in the production of
germ cells.
Sexuality: Sexuality is the means whereby the genetic diversity of living things is expressed
in terms of inherited patterns and evolutionary progress.
Sex determination: The means by which the development of the differences between the
sex is initiated.
The actual development of primary and secondary sexual characteristics is dependent upon
hormonal cues, particularly those from the gonad themselves.
What initiates the way in which the undifferentiated primordial germ cells are directed down
one path way or the other?
How does an individual become a fully functional female or male?
- the relevance of sex chromosome
- a single gene locus which determines male or female initiating process

Sexuality in fishes
(1) Hermaphroditism: An individual is hermaphrodite if it bears recognizable male and
female tissues.
(a) Synchronous hermaphrodite: Individuals in which the male and female sex cells
ripen at the same time. eg. Serranus seriba
(b) Asynchronous- Metagonous or consecutive hermaphrodite:
(i) Protogynous- function first as females and then transform into male. e.g.
Pagellus erythrinus (Sparidae)
(ii) Protandrous- transforms from male to female e.g. Pagsus major (Red
seabream)

(2) Gonochorism: Chromosomally determined sex that is either male or female

(a) Undifferentiated gonochorists- The indifferent gonad first develops into an ovary-
like gonad and then one half of the individuals become males and the other half females e.g.
Anguilla anguilla (eel).
 CHAPTER-7: Sex and Sexually in Fishes
Prepared by: Dr. Md. Ariful Alam, Associate Professor

(b) Differentiated gonochorists: the indifferent gonads directly differentiate into

either a testis an ovary e.g. Oryzias latipes (Medaka).

3. All female species or parthenogenesis: There is existence of male fish in these

species. They reproduce parthenogenetically with the help of males from closely
related species. They use the males only for activation of the eggs but do not receive
any genetic materials e.g. Poecilia formusa is an all female species. They get help
from Poecilia latepinna male for reproduction.

Sex-determination in fishes
(1) XY sex-determination system: Sex chromosomes in females are identical and those in
males are a mismatched pair. Females are XX and males are XY. The Y chromosome
determines the sex e.g. Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).
(2) WZ sex-determination system: The chromosomes in the male are identical, in the
females are mismatched pairs. Females are WZ and males are ZZ. The W chromosome
determines the sex e.g. Red tilapia (Oreochromis aureus).
(3) Multiple X chromosomes: Females are X1X1X2X2 and males are X1X2Y. Females are
homogametic and males are heterogametic. The male determines the sex of the offspring
e.g. File fish
(4) Multiple W chromosome: Females are W1W2Z and males are ZZ. Female determines the
sex of his offspring e.g. Virolito
(5) Multiple Y chromosome: Males are XY1Y2 and females are XX. Male determines the
sex of his offspring e.g. Hoplias sp.
(6) WXY system: This is a variant on the XY sex-determination system. The W
chromosome is a modified X chromosome that can block the male determining ability of the
Y chromosome. So, XY and YY fish are males, while XX, WX and WY fish are females.
Both males and females can be either homogametic or heterogametic e.g. Play fish
(7) XO system: There is only one sex chromosome: The XO is a variant of the XY system.
Females are XX and male are X. Male determines the sex of his offspring i.e. those receive
 CHAPTER-7: Sex and Sexually in Fishes
Prepared by: Dr. Md. Ariful Alam, Associate Professor

X chromosome become female while those receive no sex chromosome become female e.g.
Dollar hatchet fish.
(8) ZO system: It is a variant of the WZ system. Here females are ZO and males are ZZ e.g.
Dwarf gourami.
(9) Autosomal sex-determining system: Here there is no sex chromosome and sex is
determined autosomally. Sex is determined by the number of male or female genes that are
located on the autosomes e.g. Swordtail, Blue Poecilla etc.

Sex-linked inheritance
Sometimes the qualitative phenotypes are controlled by genes located on the sex chromosomes.

Y-linked genes
Genes located on Y chromosome are transmitted from father to son, and unless they cross over to
the X chromosome, they will never exist in normal female (XX). Thus Y-linked phenotypes are
seen in only one sex-males.
Example
The maculatus gene in the guppy, which controls the maculatus pigmentation pattern (black spot), is
an example of Y-linked gene. The symbol for maculatus gene is Y Ma. The symbol for the allele
which produces the wild type or unspotted phenotype is Y.
The following genotypes and phenotypes will be observed:

Genotypes Phenotypes
XX Grey female
XYMa Maculatus male
XY Grey male

Two types of mating are possible: grey female X grey male, and grey female X maculatus male.
Only one mating will produce any maculatus progeny, grey female X maculatus male.
Genotypic ratio: 1 XX: 1 XYMa
Phenotypic ratio: 1 grey female: 1 maculatus male

X-linked genes
 CHAPTER-7: Sex and Sexually in Fishes
Prepared by: Dr. Md. Ariful Alam, Associate Professor

Sex-linked genes can also be present on the X chromosome. The mode of gene acton for most X-
linked genes is simple dominance.

Caudalis pigmentation (a darkly pigmented tail) and transparent tail in the guppy is an example of
X-linked phenotype. These phenotypes are produced by the dominant SCp allele and the recessive
Xch allele. A single XCp allele produces caudalis pigmentation in either sex. The Xch allele must
be present in the homozygous state to produce the transparent in female (XchXch) but a single Xch
allele will produce the phenotype in the males (XchY).

Sex-linked, sex-influenced and sex-limited inheritance: sex-linked

traits; sex influence traits and sex limited traits in fishes

Sex linked traits:

This is a special type of linkage. Sex linked genes are carried either on the X or the Y chromosome
(in mammals or fruit flies—in birds, it would be the Z or W chromosome).

Y-linked genes are carried on the Y chromosome. Since Y chromosomes are inherited exclusively
through the male line, males inherit all Y-linked traits from their fathers. Y-linked traits found in a
father must appear in all of his sons, and all of their sons, etc. In mammals, maleness is carried on
the Y chromosome, they will never exist in normal female (XX). Thus Y-linked phenotypes are
seen in only one sex-male. The phenomenon of inheritance of Y-linked gene in the next generation
is termed as Y-linked inheritance.

The maculatus gene in the guppy, which controls the maculatus pigmentation pattern (black spot on
the dorsal fin and a red spot on the body), will be used to illustrate the inheritance of Y-linked gene.
The symbol for maculatus gene is YMa. The symbol for the allele which produces the wild type or
unspotted phenotype is Y. The following genotypes and phenotypes will be observed:
Genotypes Phenotypes
XX Grey female
XYMa Maculatus male
XY Grey male
 CHAPTER-7: Sex and Sexually in Fishes
Prepared by: Dr. Md. Ariful Alam, Associate Professor

Only two types of mating are possible: grey female X grey male, and grey female X maculatus
male. The first one will never produce the maculatus male and thus only one mating (the latter one)
will produce maculatus progeny.
The Punnet square and phenotyping and genotypic ratios of the progeny for this matting are:
Grey female (XX) X Maculatus male (XYMa)
Male gametes
Female gametes X YMa
X XX XYMa
grey female maculatus male
Genotypic ratio: 1 XX: 1 XYMa
Phenotypic ratio:
1 grey female: 1 maculatus male
X-linked genes are carried on the X chromosome. Since females have two copies of the X
chromosome and males have only one, rare recessive characteristics which are X-linked will occur
more often in males than in females. Also, since an XY zygote always inherits its X from its female
parent and it’s Y from the male parent, males inherit all of their X-linked traits from their mothers.
The phenomenon of inheritance of x-linked traits in the next generation due to the transmission of
x-linked gene is termed as x-linked inheritance.

Sex-linked genes can be present on the X chromosome. The mode of gene action for most X-linked
genes is simple dominance. Caudalis pigmentation (a darkly pigmented tail) and transparent tail in
the guppy are used to illustrate this type of gene action and show how these phenotypes are
inherited. These phenotypes are produced by the dominant XCp allele and the recessive Xch allele. A
single XCp allele produces caudalis pigmentation in either sex. The Xch allele must be present in the
homozygous state to produce the transparent in female (XchXch) but a single Xch allele will
produce the phenotype in the males (XchY).
Genotype Phenotype
XCp XCp Caudalis female
XCp XCh Caudalis female
XCh XCh Transparent tailed female
XCpY Caudalis female
XChY Transparent tailed male
 CHAPTER-7: Sex and Sexually in Fishes
Prepared by: Dr. Md. Ariful Alam, Associate Professor

Sex influenced traits:

Sex influenced traits are autosomal traits whose expression is affected by gender. Usually, the
alleles are influenced by the presence of certain hormones which either increase or decrease the
effects of the alleles. Eg, pattern baldness in humans is sex influenced. The gene for this trait has
two alleles, the bald allele and the non-bald allele. The effectiveness of the bald allele is greatly
increased in the presence of high levels of the hormone testosterone. Since this hormone is found in
much higher levels in males than in females, the bald allele is dominant in males and recessive in
females.

Sex limited traits:

Sex limited traits are autosomal traits whose expression is possible only in one of the genders.
These traits generally affect the primary and secondary sexual characteristics. Eg, cryptorchidism is
a condition in males in which one or both testes fail to descend into the scrotum late in gestation.
This characteristic is genetically controlled, by an autosomal gene. A female can be genetically
cryptorchid, but she can’t possibly express the trait.