Reproduction in Fishes

Reproduction in fishes
Reproduction
what defines ‘male’ vs. ‘female’? – reproductive investment
sexual strategies:
females must be ‘careful’ in mate selection due to cost
Reproduction
what defines ‘male’ vs. ‘female’?
sexual strategies:
male investments in reproduction :
advertisement, colors, tubercules, kypes, displays
nest building, territorial defense
parental care, brood guarding
Reproduction
sexual strategies:
- energy investment in eggs
- migration, brooding
male investments in reproduction :

- advertisement, colors, tubercules, kypes, displays
- mate competition
- nest building, territorial defense, migration
- parental care, brood guarding
Anatomy
hagfish, lamprey: single gonads

no ducts; release gametes into body cavity
Anatomy

sharks: paired gonads
internal fertilization
sperm emitted through cloaca, along grooves in claspers
Anatomy

chimaeras, bony fishes: paired gonads
external and internal fertilization
sperm released through separate opening
Anatomy

chimaeras, bony fishes: paired gonads
external and internal fertilization
sperm released through separate opening
most teleosts:
ova maintained in continuous sac from ovary to oviduct
exceptions: Salmonidae, Anguillidae, Galaxidae, non-
teleosts
- these release eggs into body cavity when ripe
Reproduction
bioenergetics: C = E + M + G + S + R
C – consumption
E – excretion
M – metabolism
G – growth
S – storage
R – reproduction
Anatomy
in general:
gametes produced only during spawning season
gonads reduced during non-reproductive season
Timing and location of spawning
strategy:
avoid competition for spawning habitat
maximize access to food for offspring
minimize access to offspring by predators
Timing and location of spawning
strategy:
avoid competition for spawning habitat
maximize access to food for offspring
minimize access to offspring by predators
example: Lake Champlain

anadromous – salmon
catadromous – eels
fall spawners – lake trout, whitefish
spring spawners – smelt
littoral spawners – sculpins, sunfishes, basses
stream spawners – suckers, darters, minnows, sturgeon
pelagic eggs – burbot
Reproduction
fecundity
egg size and number inversely related
egg number directly related to female size (within species)
related to food supply, competition
= population-regulating mechanism
Reproduction
fecundity
fractional spawners – produce eggs continuously,
spawn frequently
batch spawners – single reproductive season
release all eggs in a short period
Reproduction
onset of reproduction
males typically mature earlier and smaller than females
mature earlier if survival and growth are low
stable environment – delayed reproduction
Reproduction
onset of reproduction
males typically mature earlier and smaller than females
mature earlier if survival and growth are low
stable environment – delayed reproduction
survivorship
high if egg production is low, and vice versa
high fecundity fish respond more rapidly to change
Reproduction
frequency of reproduction
semelparity - spawn and then die
- huge investment in egg production
iteroparity - repeated reproduction

allows compensation for a “bad” year
more common in more unstable environments
may not spawn every year (sturgeon)
Reproductive strategies
fertilization
external except livebearers (elasmobranches, Poecilidae, etc)
mass spawning events (Clupeiformes, smelt, etc.)
several males to each female (Salmoniformes, lampreys)
several females to each male (Gobiidae)
single-pair matings (guppies)

How do fish minimize the losses of their eggs from predation?
Spectrum from minimal to maximum parental investment

non-guarders
- pelagic (broadcast) spawners
semi-buoyant eggs
high fecundity
egg and larval ‘migrations’
non-guarders
- benthic spawners
on coarse substrates (lake trout)
on vegetation (carp, perch)
on fine substrates (smelt)
non-guarders
- benthic spawners
- brood hiders:
build redd on coarse substrates (salmon, lamprey)
credit: Thomas B. Dunklin

non-guarders
- benthic spawners
- brood hiders
build redd on coarse substrates (salmon, lamprey)
beach spawners (grunion)
use another species (bitterling)
guarders
- nest builders (largemouth bass)
guarders
- nest builders (largemouth bass)
rock and gravel (like a lentic redd - sunfishes)
plant material (sticklebacks)
holes, crevices, cavities (gobies, sculpin, blennies)
froth (bettas)
anemones (clown fish)
bearers - carry eggs and/or fry with them

bearers
- external bearers
transfer: Gasterosteidae, Sygnathidae (pipefishes,
seahorses)
grade from attachment to skin, to open pouch,
to closed pouch
gill chambers, forehead
obstetrical catfish carry eggs on ventral surface
bearers
- external bearers
mouth: males or females
some cichlids and bonytongues
bearers
- external bearers
- internal bearers (viviparity)

facultative - killifishes
obligate - Lake Baikal sculpins,
marine rockfishes (Scorpaenidae)
livebearers - Poeciliids, many sharks
gradient of nutrient supply from mother
superfetation
placental viviparity - sharks
the other extreme: minimal male investment

Lophiiformes: deepsea anglerfishes
Alternative reproductive strategies
Hermaphroditism
synchronous (or simultaneous) hermaphrodites
Myctophiformes: (laternfishes) - several families
Atheriniformes: Aplocheilidae, Poeciliidae
Perciformes: Serranidae (sea basses, hamlets),
Labridae (wrasses), and others
"Egg-trading" in black hamlets Hypoplectrus nigricans (serranid)

Hermaphroditism
consecutive (sequential) hermaphrodites
first male (protandrous) – less common
Stomiiformes (lightfish, dragonfish)
Scorpaeniformes: Platycephalidae
Perciformes: Serranidae, Labridae, and others
blue-headed wrasse
Hermaphroditism
consecutive (sequential) hermaphrodites
first male (protandrous) – less common
first female (protogynous)

Synbranchiformes (swamp eels – only freshwater example)
Perciformes: Serranidae, Maenidae, Labridae
from 100% female -> 100% male
from 100% female -> 50% male / 50% female
some do not pass thru a female stage ("primary males")
Unisexual species
processes of DNA re-assortment in sexual species:
1. crossing-over during first meiotic division

2. random segregation of chromosomes in second meiotic division
3. addition of male and female chromosomes after fertilization
parthenogenesis:
females produce diploid eggs, no sperm used
premeiotic endomitosis - mitotic division without cytokinesis
parthenogenesis:
gynogenesis:
females produce diploid eggs, use sperm to stimulate development
male genome not used
congeneric species are used for sperm
example: Poecilia formosa (Amazon molly)
parthenogenesis:
gynogenesis:
androgenesis – does not exist (why?)
parthenogenesis:
gynogenesis:
hybridogenesis: one genome from female in egg,
male genome discarded - then uses sperm to restore ploidy
- no crossing over
example: Poeciliopsis monacha-lucida
Alternative male strategies
- jacks (salmon and trout)

- sneakers (“SF”s) in bluegills, wrasses, sunfishes

evolutionarily stable strategy - if small, become SF,
avoid stress of being parental male
- sneakers (“SF”s) in bluegills, wrasses, sunfishes

evolutionarily stable strategy - if small, become SF,
avoid stress of being parental male
- satellite males (mimic females) in bluegills, hover near nest

DEVELOPMENT
Developmental stages
skate
(5 cm)
egg <0.5 mm - 10 cm
variable shape, attachments
variable buoyancy
water hardening
lake trout
(5 mm)
yellow perch egg mass
round goby
(0.5 mm)
egg
embryo - dependent on mother or yolk sac for food (free embryo)
Credit: Fly Anglers online
Susan Middleton & David Liittschwager

egg
larvae - not fully functional, may look totally unlike adult
ends when axial skeleton is formed
egg
juvenile - small functional individual, immature
adult - reproductively mature
egg
juvenile - small functional individual, immature
adult - reproductively mature
Credit: USFWS, GLFC

indirect development (perch)
- larval stages go through trophic phases different from
adults
intermediate (salmonids)
- embryonic stage with yolk; virtually no larval stage
direct development (gobies)

- juvenile is fully functional miniature of adults
(no larval stage)
Genetics
Genetics
Sex determination
heterogametic sex can be male or female
Genetics
Sex determination
Polyploidy - more than two sets of chromosomes

critical difference between odd and even sets
Genetics
Sex determination
Polyploidy - more than two sets of chromosomes

critical difference between odd and even sets
- use of triploid grass carp
http://www.bajthomas.btinternet.co.uk
Genetics
Natural polyploids
triploids - Cyprinidontiformes: Poeciliid triploids
- different solutions to the problem of triploid gametes….
Genetics
Natural polyploids
tetraploids (autotetraploids vs. allotetraploids)

Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefish)
Salmonidae (all trouts - autotetraploid)
ancestral chromosome doubling event
Cypriniformes
some cyprinids
all catostomids are allotetraploid
Siluriformes
Corydoras catfishes
Perciformes
Only Lucioperca sandra: 2n = 24 in Sweden
but 2n = 48 in Finland
Genetics
Natural polyploids
tetraploids (autotetraploids vs. allotetraploids)
hexaploids and octaploids (rare in carp)

Genetics
Natural hybrids
salmonids
centrarchids

Reproduction in Fishes

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Reproduction in Fishes

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Reproduction in fishes

what defines ‘male’ vs. ‘female’? – reproductive investment

what defines ‘male’ vs. ‘female’?

male investments in reproduction :

hagfish, lamprey: single gonads

hagfish, lamprey: single gonads

hagfish, lamprey: single gonads

hagfish, lamprey: single gonads

example: Lake Champlain

iteroparity - repeated reproduction

mass spawning events (Clupeiformes, smelt, etc.)

several males to each female (Salmoniformes, lampreys)

several females to each male (Gobiidae)

single-pair matings (guppies)

Spectrum from minimal to maximum parental investment

credit: Thomas B. Dunklin

bearers - carry eggs and/or fry with them

- internal bearers (viviparity)

the other extreme: minimal male investment

"Egg-trading" in black hamlets Hypoplectrus nigricans (serranid)

first female (protogynous)

processes of DNA re-assortment in sexual species:

1. crossing-over during first meiotic division

- jacks (salmon and trout)

- jacks (salmon and trout)

- sneakers (“SF”s) in bluegills, wrasses, sunfishes

- jacks (salmon and trout)

- sneakers (“SF”s) in bluegills, wrasses, sunfishes

- satellite males (mimic females) in bluegills, hover near nest

yellow perch egg mass

Credit: Fly Anglers online

Susan Middleton & David Liittschwager

Credit: USFWS, GLFC

direct development (gobies)

Polyploidy - more than two sets of chromosomes

Polyploidy - more than two sets of chromosomes

tetraploids (autotetraploids vs. allotetraploids)

tetraploids (autotetraploids vs. allotetraploids)

hexaploids and octaploids (rare in carp)

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