Seasonal changes in sperm production and quality in the red porgy Pagrus pagrus (L.) |
| |
Authors: | Constantinos C Mylonas Maria Papadaki & Pascal Divanach |
| |
Institution: | Institute of Marine Biology of Crete, Iraklion, Crete, Greece;Department of Biology, University of Crete, Crete, Greece |
| |
Abstract: | Cultured red porgy Pagrus pagrus (L.) males (n=6) were sampled every 2 weeks for milt, in order to monitor changes in sperm quality parameters during a whole spawning period. On 11 January 2001, 60% of the fish were spermiating, increasing to 100% in mid‐February and dropping to 30% by mid‐April. Sperm density showed a slight increasing trend, with mean values ranging between 8.6 and 23.7×109 spermatozoa mL?1. Sperm motility percentage exhibited a significant improvement during the spawning season (analysis of variance (anova ) P=0.0001). The duration of forward motility for the major part of the monitoring period ranged between 2 and 4 min. Red porgy spermatozoa maintained their viability for many days after whole storage of milt at 4°C. During the monitoring period there were significant changes in the mean duration of sperm survival after cold storage, ranging from 5 to 12 days. The total volume of expressible milt was maximal on 28 March, increasing from a mean value of 1.7 mL to 5.3 mL kg?1. Milt production of captive‐reared red porgy does not appear to be limiting, when compared with the volume of expressible milt produced by other cultured marine fishes. |
| |
Keywords: | Pagrus red porgy sperm quality spermation |
|
|