Reproductive cycles in a reared strain of the mummichog, a daily spawner

Abstract

Annual, lunar, and diel samplings were taken from a strain of mummichog (Arasaki strain) reared in outdoor tanks under natural conditions, to examine gonadal maturity. Gonads of yearling fish were quite immature in September. During late autumn and winter, a gradual increase in the GSI of both sexes was observed, and the growth of cortical alveolus phase oocytes in females and basal spermatogenesis in males progressed. In late February, a rapid increase in the GSI of both sexes, vitellogenesis in females, and active spermatogenesis in males, occurred. The spawning period of the yearling fish was from late March to August judging from the presence of milt‐producing males and ovulated females. The spawning period of the underyearling fish started in the same month as the yearlings, but terminated 1 month earlier. Plasma levels of oestradiol‐17β (E2) in females and testosterone in males were high during the spawning period in the yearlings. In the underyearlings, however, E2 levels peaked in early spring, and declined in the latter part of the spawning period. Neither a lunar nor semilunar cycle was evident in the reproductive activity of this fish, which proved to be a typical daily spawner. Females showed an apparent daily reproductive cycle; oocyte maturation commenced at about 1200 hours, germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) occurred at about 2400 hours, and ovulation was completed by 2400 hours, 24 h after GVBD. Such clear annual and daily reproductive cycles make this strain of mummichog a suitable model for the study of environmental and endocrine regulation of reproductive cycles in marine and estuarine teleosts.