The remarkable reproductive diversity of teleost fishes |
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| Authors: | Carl Smith Robert J Wootton |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, Fife, UK;2. Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno, Czech Republic |
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| Abstract: | Teleosts display the most striking reproductive diversity of all vertebrates. However, no convincing hypothesis has yet been proposed to explain why they have evolved this remarkable variability in their modes of reproduction. Some of the features of the reproductive biology of teleosts are briefly reviewed, and unique characteristics of the group that may have made possible the evolution of their remarkable reproductive diversity are considered. These include whole‐genome duplication, the mode of differentiation of the gonads and the organization of the brain–pituitary relationship. |
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| Keywords: | Hermaphroditism mating system self‐fertilization sex determination unisexuality viviparity |
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