Development of a simple method for sperm cryopreservation of Scombridae fishes in outdoor environments

Abstract

We developed a simple dry shipper method for cryopreserving the sperm of Scombridae fish in outdoor environments. First, we undertook a preliminary study to optimize the sperm cryopreservation conditions using bullet tuna, Auxis rochei (Risso, 1810) sperm. We found that the optimum cryomedium contained 90% foetal bovine serum (FBS) or 300 mM trehalose as an external cryoprotectant and 10% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as an internal cryoprotectant. Under these optimized conditions, the post-thaw sperm had a duration of motility of 500 s and a motility rate of >70%. We then performed practical trials of the optimized protocol in various outdoor environments (e.g., fishing boats and ports) using the sperm of five Scombridae species: chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus (Houttuyn, 1782); blue mackerel, S. australasicus (Cuvier, 1832); skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis (Linnaeus, 1758); longtail tuna Thunnus tonggol, (Bleeker, 1851) and Pacific bluefin tuna, T. orientalis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844). The post-thaw sperm of all five of these species had a duration of motility of 650 s and a motility rate of >70%, indicating that this simple method can be used to obtain high-quality cryopreserved sperm of various Scombridae species in outdoor environments.