Vitellogenesis with special emphasis on Indian fishes

Oocyte growth in most oviparous vertebrates including fish is due to the formation of yolk, and eggshell proteins (zona radiata proteins). Zonagenesis leads to the formation of zona radiata proteins in oocytes, which play an important role during oogenesis, whereas vitellogenesis leads to the formation of yolk in oocytes through a series of events during which the yolk precursor protein vitellogenin (Vg) is synthesized and secreted from liver into blood from where it is sequestered into the developing oocytes and thereafter proteolytically cleaved to form yolk proteins (YPs) and finally deposited in the ooplasm. Much research has been done in many fish species with respect to the number and nature of Vg and YPs and their probable functions during fish reproduction. Recent findings of multiplicity of Vg molecules in fishes reject the earlier view of a single-Vg model and have led scientists to explore the functions of individual Vg and their YP derivatives, lipovitellin, phosvitin, and β′-component. Two distinct types of Vg or Vg genes, containing or encoding the three YPs, have been detected in many teleosts. A third unusual, incomplete, phosvitin-poor Vg has been described recently in many fishes. In comparison to much of the information on vitellogenesis in many fishes very little is known for Indian fishes. In India research has been done in a few species such as the catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis and Clarias batrachus, the murrel, Channa punctatus and the Indian major carps, Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala. Immunological and biochemical analyses suggest the occurrence of multiple forms of Vg and their YP derivatives. The synthesis and incorporation of Vg are regulated by gonadotropin (GTH) and estradiol-17β (E₂). A differential role between estrone (E₁₎ and estriol (E₃) has been demonstrated for Vg synthesis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for Vg have been developed to measure plasma Vg. Finally the different roles of Vg1 (HAI) and Vg2 (HAII) on vitellogenesis have been demonstrated. However, more research remains to be carried out in other fish species with respect to the number and nature of Vg and YPs and their genes in order to describe their reproductive functions.     

细鳞鱼的卵黄发生

从发育生物学—卵黄发生角度,通过光镜和透射电镜对细鳞鱼(Brachymystax lenok)卵黄发生进行观察。结果表明,细鳞鱼的卵黄发生主要集中在初级卵母细胞阶段完成,可分为4个特征时期:初级生长期,皮质泡期,卵黄积累期,卵黄积累完成期。当卵母细胞进入初级生长早期,卵子发生特征物——类核周体出现;进入皮质泡期,其主要特征是皮质泡、卵黄外膜和巴尔比亚尼体结构;处于卵黄积累期,位于其外周细胞质附近会出现卵黄颗粒;进入卵黄积累完成期,卵黄颗粒不断融合增大,占据细胞绝大部分。以上结果为细鳞鱼的卵巢发育分期提供了理论基础,并深入探讨其发育的规律性、特殊性和复杂性,从而指导细鳞鱼的人工繁殖、选育种工作及野生群体的资源保护和合理利用。     

Taste preferences in fishes

The fish gustatory system provides the final sensory evaluation in the feeding process. Unlike other vertebrates, the gustatory system in fish may be divided into two distinct subsystems, oral and extraoral, both of them mediating behavioural responses to food items brought in contact with the fish. The abundance of taste buds is another peculiarity of the fish gustatory system. For many years, morphological and electrophysiological techniques dominated the studies of the fish gustatory system, and systematic investigations of fish taste preferences have only been performed during the last 10 years. In the present review, basic principles in the taste preferences of fish are formulated. Categories or types of taste substances are defined in accordance with their effects on fish feeding behaviour and further mediation by the oral or extraoral taste systems (incitants, suppressants, stimulants, deterrents, enhancers and indifferent substances). Information on taste preferences to different types of substances including classical taste substances, free amino acids, betaine, nucleotides, nucleosides, amines, sugars and other hydrocarbons, organic acids, alcohols and aldehydes, and their mixtures, is summarised. The threshold concentrations for taste substances are discussed, and the relationship between fish taste preferences with fish systematic position and fish ecology is evaluated. Fish taste preferences are highly species‐specific, and the differences among fish species are apparent when comparing the width and composition of spectra for both the stimulants and the deterrents. What is evident is that there is a strong similarity in the taste preferences between geographically isolated fish populations of the same species, and that taste preferences are similar in males and females, although at the individual level, it may vary dramatically among conspecifics. What is noteworthy is that taste responses are more stable and invariable for highly palatable substances than for substances with a low level of palatability. Taste preferences as a function of pH is analysed. There is a good correspondence between development of the gustatory system in fish ontogeny and its ability to discriminate taste properties of food items. There is also a correspondence between oral and extraoral taste preferences for a given species; however, there is no correlation between smell and taste preferences. Taste preferences in fish show low plasticity (in relation to the diet), appear to be determined genetically and seem to be patroclinous. Fish feeding motivation and various environmental factors like water temperature and pollutants such as heavy metals and low pH water may shift fish taste preferences. Comparisons between bioassay and electrophysiological data show that palatability is not synonymous with excitability in the gustatory system. The chemical nature of stimulants and deterrents in various hydrobionts is outlined. The significance of basic knowledge in fish taste preferences for aquaculture and fisheries is emphasised.     

Tool use in fishes

Tool use was once considered the sole domain of humans. Over the last 40 years, however, it has become apparent that tool use may be widespread across the animal kingdom. Pioneering studies in primates have shaped the way we think about tool use in animals, but have also lead to a bias both in terms of our expectations about which animals should be capable of using tools and the working definition of tool use. Here I briefly examine tool use in terrestrial animals and consider the constraints of the current working definition of tool use in fishes. Fishes lack grasping limbs and operate underwater where there are clear constraints with respect to the physics of tool use that differ dramatically from the terrestrial environment. I then examine all of the documented accounts of tool use in fishes. The review reveals that tool use seems to be confined to a limited number of fish taxa, particularly the wrasse, which may show similarities with the greater than expected number of examples of tool use in primates and corvids amongst mammals and birds, respectively. As fish are seldom studied as intensely as birds and mammals, there is a clear need for further observation of tool use in fishes. It is likely that further examples will be unveiled allowing us to perform comparative analyses of the evolution of tool use in fish.     

鱼类的性别决定和性染色体

全世界现存鱼类约有 2 4 6 18种 ,分属 5 7目 ,4 82科 ,4 2 5 8属 ,是脊椎动物中分布最广 ,种类最多的类群 ,具有多种多样的生物学特性和重大的经济价值。在脊椎动物系统进化中 ,鱼类处于承先启后的地位 ,有着长久的进化历史和繁多演化分枝。鱼类在进化过程中表现出各种趋同性、趋异性和保守性 ,变化纷繁 ,物种进化异常活跃[1] 。鱼类作为较低等的脊椎动物 ,在性别决定中也有多种表现形式 ,例如鱼类中有些物种是雌雄同体的 ,这在其它高等脊椎动物中是没有的。即在同一个体中同时具有两种性腺 ,行自体受精。而另有些物种则是连续性雌雄同体鱼…     

亚麻酸对卵形鲳鲹幼鱼生长性能、消化酶活性及抗氧化能力的影响

为制定卵形鲳鲹(Trachinotus ovatus)投喂策略,文章研究了卵形鲳鲹昼夜摄食、耗氧规律和胃肠排空时间。摄食节律采用分段式连续投喂法(1昼夜,每隔2 h投料1次,连续3 d);耗氧节律采用流水呼吸法测定(1昼夜,24 h中每2 h测定1次);胃肠排空时间实验采用一次饱食投喂法(1昼夜,每隔2 h取样1次)。结果表明,卵形鲳鲹属于白天摄食类型,分别在10:00和14:00—16:00间出现2个摄食高峰(P<0.05);耗氧高峰期分别在08:00和16:00出现(P<0.05);饱食后,胃内含物比率下降迅速(P<0.05),7 h下降约50%,第15小时出现极低值(P<0.05),19 h后胃内含物为0。在摄食后3 h内全肠内含物比率迅速升高,第11小时达到最大值(P<0.05),之后逐渐降低,在第21小时出现极低值(P<0.05)。研究建议在卵形鲳鲹网箱养殖生产中,宜在光线较强、耗氧和摄食高峰的上午(09:00—10:00)和下午(14:00—16:00)时段进行投喂,投喂频率2~3次·d⁻¹,投喂间隔7~9 h。

     

Social networks in elasmobranchs and teleost fishes

Over the last decade, there has been an exponential increase in studies using social network analysis to describe the structure of animal societies. In this synthesis, we examine the contribution of social network analysis towards developing our understanding of the social organization of elasmobranchs and teleost fishes. We review and discuss the current state of knowledge of the mechanisms and functions underpinning social network structure in fishes with particular emphasis on cooperation, familiarity, site fidelity, population structure and the welfare of captive populations. We also discuss important methodological issues (e.g. how to identify and mark fish) and highlight new developments in this area of research and their implications for the study of fish behaviour. Finally, we outline promising future research areas for the application of social network analysis to teleost fishes and elasmobranchs.     

池塘鱼鳖混养技术

鱼、鳖混养的生物学原理在于鳖的残饵和粪便内氮、磷、钾等含量较高,起了培肥水质的作用,为以浮游生物为食的鲢鳙鱼和杂食的鲤、鲫、罗非鱼等鱼的快速生长提供了饵料条件;同时大量的鱼类粪便、水草沤肥及随之繁殖起来的细菌、浮游生物、底栖生物,又给鳖的饵料螺、蚌的生长创造了良好的条件,使之迅速繁殖。这样就形成了鱼、鳖食物链相互促进的新的生态平衡,     

Lymphocystis disease in Wisconsin fishes

Abstract. Lymphocystis disease is reported from seven fish species in 48 of Wisconsin's 72 counties (67%). It was previously known from only two fish species in five counties. The record from northern pike, Esox Indus L. is new. Five other host records are new for Wisconsin. A relationship between the disease distribution in new waters and walleye, Stizostedion vitreum (Mitchill), stocking sources is noted. Histologlcal observations from black crappie, Pomoxis nigromaculatus (Lesueur) and walleye are similar to previously published accounts. Events in hyaline capsule degeneration are described for the first time. In Wisconsin, the disease was most commonly observed in the spring, particularly in walleye, but was consistently evident throughout the rest of the year.     

Intraspecific food competition in fishes

Intraspecific food competition exerts powerful selective forces on all animals; successful foragers thrive relative to weaker conspecifics. Understanding competition is therefore fundamental both to ecological insight and to conservation efforts. Fish are adaptable and tractable experimental organisms, offering excellent model systems for studies on competition, and they lend themselves to two approaches: (i) studies of short‐term competition, which quantify the components of behavioural interactions; (ii) studies of long‐term interactions, in which the indeterminate nature of fish growth makes it possible to measure rates directly and correlate them with competitive success. The nature and the intensity of competition vary according to resource characteristics and distributions in time and space, the ecological context, and the relative competitive abilities of the foragers. Second‐order effects, such as winner and loser consequences, add to the complexity and frustrated early attempts to develop realistic models of intraspecific competition. Recently, however, considerable advances have been made in both laboratory and field studies on fishes adding to our understanding of these interacting effects. At the same time, the application of individual‐based modelling offers the prospect of progress towards greater realism and accuracy in predicting competitive outcomes. This review draws together a wide and disparate literature on intraspecific competition in fishes to facilitate the work of both empiricists and theoreticians towards these important goals. In the short term, competing individuals may adopt different behavioural strategies and feeding patterns or establish dominance hierarchies and feeding territories. In the longer term, competition can drive character displacement and the formation of species pairs and fish provide some of the most compelling examples of these processes in evolutionary biology. The challenge for the future is to further develop our understanding of the relationship between the competitive environment and the responses of fishes, particularly with closer co‐operation between empiricists and theoreticians, and to apply this knowledge to aquaculture and to better management of exploited fish stocks.     

平原型水库综合高效养殖技术

在新建的 70 6公顷平原型水库内 ,通过嫁接大面积池塘“稀放精养”技术 ,和实施水库名优鱼类定向增移植技术 ,实施立体生态养殖技术、无公害健康养殖技术和采用新型拦鱼技术等一系列技术措施 ,三年累计实现水产品产量1376 7吨 ,水产品产值 10 17 3万元 ,总产值 1190 4万元 ,利润 5 15 2万元。     

Sex steroids in intersexual fishes

Studies of thein vitro gonadal steroidogenesis in intersexual fishes, using labelled testosterone as precursor, showed large species variation. The protogynousMonopterus albus produced predominantly 5α-reduced metabolites while the protandrousRhabdosargus sarba produced mainly 5β-reduced products. Both fishes synthesized 11-oxotestosterone; the synthesis of which appeared to mediate mainly through adrenosterone inM. albus butvia 11β-hydroxytestosterone inR. sarba. When the plasma levels of androstenedione, testosterone, 11-oxotestosterone, 11β-hydroxytestosterone, estrone and 17β-estradiol among the male, intersexual and female phase of the same species were compared, available data showed that either there was no obvious difference among the different sexual phases or the differences could be accounted for by the seasonal reproductive activities of the animal. Except for androstenedione, there are no marked changes in plasma testosterone, 11-oxotestosterone, 11β-hydroxytestosterone, estrone and 17β-estradiol levels in the intersexual phase compared with the female and male, it is unlikely that these classical sex steroids act as a primary trigger of natural sex reversal in these fishes; the role of androstenedione awaits further elucidation. Department of Zoology, University of Hong Kong     

Dietary calcium requirement in fishes

The dietary requirement of calcium (Ca) has been well established in terrestrial animals. However, investigations for dietary Ca requirement in fish are complicated and reports limited as fish can use waterborne Ca in addition to dietary Ca. Ca absorption in fishes from environmental water is species specific and depends on concentration of Ca in rearing environment and availability of dietary Ca. Ca and phosphorus are generally combined together in fish body therefore maintaining a dietary calcium: phosphorus ratio is important. Ca exists in a complex form in fish meal, which is not available to fishes; hence, although fish meal contains an appreciable amount of calcium, dietary Ca supplementation in fish meal‐based diets for some species is necessary. This review article summarizes and discusses pertinent information on absorption of Ca from water, essentiality of dietary Ca, bioavailability of Ca from different sources, optimum calcium:phosphorus ratio and dietary Ca requirement in fishes.     

Learned predator recognition and antipredator responses in fishes

Early research into the causes of geographical variation in antipredator behaviour in fishes revealed that population differences have an underlying genetic basis. However, evidence from a variety of fish species suggests that learning plays an important role in the development of antipredator responses. Here, we consider the opportunities for learning during the three main stages of a predator–prey interaction: detection, recognition and assessment, and attack avoidance. Much of the evidence for learning is based on the recognition and assessment stage of the predator–prey interaction, but this may reflect methodological biases. We also examine the relative roles of different sensory cues, in particular, vision and olfaction, and the importance of individual vs. social learning. We provide evidence that visual predator recognition skills are largely built on unlearned predispositions, whereas olfactory recognition typically involves experience with conspecific alarm cues. Populations display variation in their propensity to learn, and we predict that ecological factors are likely to mediate the balance between individual and social learning.     

喹诺酮类药物在鱼体内的药动学及残留研究概况

研究药物在鱼体内的动力学及残留是优化给药方案,确定起捕前的正确休药期,提高水产品质量,促进水产品出口等的理论基础。综述了喹诺酮类药物在鱼体内的动力学及残留研究概况,动力学中各个相关过程(包括吸收、分布、代谢和排泄)及其影响因素等。国内学者在该领域做了一些工作,但与国外相比仍处于起步阶段。     

市售鱼体中总汞和铅含量的检测

采集石河子市的5个主要农贸市场所售的4种鱼类,首次对鱼体中总汞和铅含量进行检测。结果表明,产自不同地方鱼体中总汞和铅含量存在显著差异;27.8%的鱼体总汞含量超标,72.2%的鱼体铅含量超标。     

池塘鳖鱼混养技术初探

1998、 1999年我们在贵池市高岭水产养殖场利用 2 1 5亩池塘进行了鳖鱼混养 ,净产商品鳖4 0 0 6 0公斤、成鱼和一龄鱼种 92 4 6 3公斤 ,年亩净收入 882 9 2元 ,取得了较好的经济效益。1　材料和方法1 1　池塘条件　 7口池塘大小相近 ,共 2 1 5亩 ,均是东西向长方形 ,整齐排布 ,底质平坦 ,最大注水深度 2 2米 ,坡比 1∶2 5,池埂宽 2 3米 ,中间用砖砌成 0 5米高的“Ｔ”形防逃墙。每池四周靠近水面处设置长 1 2米、宽 0 6米的投饲台 14个 ,供鳖摄食时使用。苗种放养前 ,清除池底杂物和淤泥 ,每亩用150公斤生石灰干法清塘 ,…