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Gonadal development and spawning season of white mullet Mugil curema (Mugilidae) in a tropical bay
Author(s) -
Albieri R. J.,
Araújo F. G.,
Ribeiro T. P.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of applied ichthyology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1439-0426
pISSN - 0175-8659
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0426.2009.01369.x
Subject(s) - mugil , bay , fishery , biology , white (mutation) , fish <actinopterygii> , mullet , geography , archaeology , biochemistry , gene
The white mullet Mugil curema Valenciennes, 1836 is a widespread coastal fish found in the western Atlantic from Massachusetts to southern Brazil. It is considered to be catadromous, and, as such, the juvenile fish are recruited to lagoons and estuaries following a period of offshore spawning (Ibáñez-Aguirre, 1993; Ditty and Shaw, 1996). The white mullet is an important economic resource supporting many small communities through both fishing and aquaculture (Alvarez-Lajonchere, 1982; Gómez and Cervigón, 1987). The life cycle of M. curema has been well documented in temperate areas (Jacot, 1920; Anderson, 1957; Moore, 1974) and even in some subtropical and tropical countries, such as Venezuela (Angell, 1973; Alvarez-Lajonchere, 1976; Marin E et al., 2003), Mexico (Yáñez-Arancibia, 1976; Ibáñez-Aguirre, 1993), Cuba (Garcia and Bustamente, 1981; Alvarez-Lajonchere, 1982) and Trinidad and Tobago (Solomon and Ramnarine, 2007). In Brazil, such investigations are rare and superficial. Couto and Nascimento (1980) described their histological observations of the ovary from aquaculture specimens, and Benetti and Fagundes Netto (1991) studied growth rates under experimental conditions. To date, there have not been any histological observations of the seasonal variations in the gonadal cell development to determine the spawning season of M. curema from the Brazilian coast. The aim of this study was to examine some key parameters related to reproduction in M. curema from a coastal bay in southeastern Brazil, focusing on gonadal development and the spawning season. In addition, an attempt was made to correlate the spawning season exhibited by this species with the hepatosomatic index and condition factor.