A description of the ovarian development stages of penaeid shrimps from the coast of Pakistan

Abstract

In this study, four species of penaeid shrimp from Pakistan's inshore waters were studied. These were Penaeus penicillatus (Alcock), Penaeus merguiensis (de Man), Metapenaeus affinis (Milne Edwards) and Parapenaeopsis stylifera (Milne Edwards). During maturation, shrimp ovaries pass through a series of colour changes. The various colours observed in the ovaries of the four species of penaeid shrimps were translucent, white, cream, yellow, green-yellow, green-white, light green and dark green. The different type of oocytes observed in histological sections of the penaeid ovaries are as follows: chromatin nucleolar oocytes, perinucleolar oocytes, yolkless oocytes, yolky oocytes and oocytes with cortical bodies. The ovarian developmental stages recognized in these shrimps are: undeveloped, developing, nearly ripe, fully ripe, resorbing and resorbing/ developing. The ovarian developmental stages were similar in all the four species with the exception of the fully ripe stage. In the fully ripe stage of P. penicillatus and P. merguiensis, the cortical bodies were present at the periphery in two shapes; spherical as well as rod-like. On the other hand, in the fully ripe stage of M. affinis and P. stylifera, the cortical bodies were present only at the periphery and were only spherical. A relationship between colour of ovaries and histological stages of ovarian development was established. A female shrimp with a dark-green ovary is an indication of the ready- to-spawn condition. In P. merguiensis and Penaeus penicillatus, respectively, 100% and 88.1% females with dark-green ovaries had oocytes with cortical bodies, whereas in M. affinis and P. stylifera, respectively, 50% and 28.6% females with dark-green ovaries had oocytes with cortical bodies.