Assessment of Ovarian Development and Its Relation to Mating in Wild and Pond-Reared Litopenaeus vannamei Shrimp in a Commercial Hatchery

The present study compares three scales for evaluation of ovary development stage in wild and pond-reared shrimp. An external visual scale was assessed according to color and size of ovaries observed through the exoskeleton in live shrimp by staff of a commercial hatchery. Shrimp were then sacrificed to obtain gonadosomatic index, and gonads were scaled according to their color and size upon dissection. Finally, a portion of ovaries was processed for histological analysis, from which oocyte diameters were obtained, and females were evaluated with another scale based on cytological organization of gonads and on frequency of oocyte sizes. The certainties of the external and internal scales were analyzed, based on differences in gonadosomatic index and oocyte diameter and by comparison with the more accurate scaling obtained by histological analysis. The external scale was, in general, less accurate than the internal scale. Maturation stage in pond-reared shrimp was underestimated or overestimated more frequently than in wild shrimp. The implications for hatchery operation and possible reasons are discussed. Pond-reared shrimp were found to have a non-linear relation between gonad weight and body weight, but this relation was linear for the larger wild shrimp. This reduced the validity of gonadosomatic index in pond-reared shrimp, which were still growing. Thus, oocyte diameter, which was not affected by body weight in growing shrimp, represents a more accurate numeric measure of ovary development. Spermatophores were found attached to the thelycum in females only at the cortical stage of maturation, independent of origin. However, a significant proportion of fully mature, pond-reared shrimp did not have an attached spermatophore, possibly indicating lower mating success or poorer spermatophore adherence in these shrimp.