• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.702-708
• /
• 2002

Although Umboniunm thomasi is one of marine mollusc (Archaeogastropoda: Trochidae) inhabiting the sands in the intertidal zone of the west coast of Korea, aspects of its reproductive biology are still not too well known. Reproductive cycle, gametogenesis, and first sexual maturity of U. thomasi collected at the west coast of Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do, Korea were investigated monthly from January to December 1999. U. thomasi was dioecious, and an oviparous. The gonad was placed in the rear of the flesh part in the spiral shell. The external colors of the ripe ovary and testis appeared to be green and milk-white or yellowish white, respectively. Meat weigh rate peaked in July ($37.5\%$). And then the value sharply decreased in September ($28.3\%$), thereafter, gradually increased in November ($31.7\%$). Fully ripe oocytes were approximately 100$\~$110 $/mu$m in diameter, and their cytoplasm contained a great number of yolk Branules. Based on the monthly changes of the Bonadal development, gametogenesis, and meat weight rate, the reproductive cycle of U. thomasi could be devided into five successive stages: early active (November to April), late active (February to May), ripe (April to August), spawning (July to October), and recovery (September to February). Gonadal development and spawning were closely related to the seawater temperature, the main spawning occurred in September when the temperature reached above 24.2$^{\circ}C$. Individuals of 4.4 mm and less in shell height could not take part in reproduction in both sexes. Percentages of first sexual maturity of female and male shells ranging from 5.5 to 6.4 mm were $55.0\%$ and $61.9\%$, respectively, and $100\%$ of those over 7.5 mm in shell heights in both sexes participated in the reproduction.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.49-59
• /
• 2015

Spatial variation in the reproductive effort of Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum is often closely associated with variation in the seawater temperature and food availability, which determines gonad maturity and the quantity of gamates produced during spawning. Previous studies also have reported that severe infection by the protozoan parasite Perkinsus olseni exerts a negative impact on clam reproduction, retarding gonad maturation or decreasing the reproductive effort. In the present study, we investigated impacts of P. olseni infection on the reproductive condition of Manila clam during a spawning season. Histology revealed that 54% of female clams in Wando off the south coast were in spawning, while only 10% of the female from Gomso and 0% of the female from Seonjaedo in Gyeonggi bay off the west coast were engaged in spawning at the end of May in 2004. Ray's fluid thioglycollate media (RFTM) assay was applied to assess P. olseni infection and indicated that the infection intensity in Wando ($3,608,000{\pm}258,000cells/g$ wet tissue) was significantly higher than the levels in Gomso ($1,305,000{\pm}106,000cells/g$ wet tissue) and Seonjaedo ($1,083,000{\pm}137,000cells/g$ wet tissue, p < 0.001). The size of the ripe female follicle determined from histology was significantly smaller in Wando ($0.032mm^2$) compared to the sizes in Gomso ($0.059mm^2$) and Seonjaedo ($0.052mm^2$, p < 0.05). Accordingly, the number of ripe eggs in the follicle was significantly fewer among clams in Wando (14) compared to the numbers determined in Gomso (23) and Seonjaedo (22). The absolute quantity of egg in ripe clams from Wando (31.01 mg) was also significantly smaller than Seonjaedo (61.79 mg) and Gomso (133.3 mg). Quantity of total protein, carbohydrate, and lipid in the tissue in the Wando samples was significantly smaller than the quantities determined in Gomso and Seonjaedo (p < 0.001). The observed poor reproductive condition and proximate tissue composition of the females in Wando were, in part, explained by the extremely high level of the parasites, sapping the ability to store energy in the host tissues, which is used in tissue growth and the egg production.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.563-574
• /
• 1986

The structure of gonads, gametogenesis and reproductive cycle of the jackknife clams, Solen strictus and Solen gordonis were investigated mainly by histological observation. The first species used were monthly sampled at the coastal area of Dadaepo, Pusan, Korea and Naechodo, Kunsan, Korea for one year from February 1982 to January 1983. The second species were monthly sampled at the sand beach of Dadaepo, Pusan, Korea, from February 1982 to January 1983. Sexualities of Solen strictus and Solen gordonis are dioecious, and these species are oviparous. The gonads are irregularly arranged from the subregion of mid-intestinal gland in visceral cavity to reticular connective tissue of foot. The ovary was composed of a number of small ovarian sacs and the testis was composed of several testicular lobuli which from the tubular structure. Early multiplicating oogonium was about $10{\mu}m$ in diamater. Nucleus and nucleolus, at that time, were distinct in appearance. Each of the early growing oocytes made an egg-stalk, connected to the germinal epithelium of the ovarian sac. A great number of undifferentiated mesenchymal tissue and eosinophilic granular cells are abundantly distributed in the ovarian sacs in the early development stages. With the further development of gonad, these tissue and cells gradually disappeared. Then the undifferentiated mesenchymal tissue and eosinophilic granular cells function as nutritive cells in the formation and development of the early stage germ cells. Mature oocytes were free in the lumen of ovarian sacs and gradually become round or oval. Ripe oocyte was about 80 to $90{\mu}m$ in diameter. With the further development of testis, each of the testicular lobuli formed stratified layers composed of spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa in groups on the germinal epithelium. After spawning, the gonad gradually degenerated, and disorganized completely. Then new differentiated tissues were rearranged next year. The annual reproductive cycle of those species could be classified into five stages; multiplicative, growing, mature, spent, degenerative and resting stage. It seems that the spawning season is closely related to the water temperature, and the spawning of Solen strictus occurs from June to July at above $20^{\circ}C$ in water temperature. The peak spawning season appeared in June at Dadaepo and in July at Kunsan, The spawning of Solen gordonis occurs from May to June with the peak spawning season in June. Percentages of the first maturity in female of Solen strictus ranging from 5.1-6.0 cm and 7.1-8.0 cm in shell length were $50\%$ and $100\%$, respectively.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.261-271
• /
• 2011

The gametogenic cycle, the spawning season and the biological minimum sizes in female and male Protothaca (Notochione) jedoensis were investigated by quantitative statistical analysis. In females, monthly changes in the percents of the follicle areas to the ovarian tissue areas and the percents of the oocyte areas to the ovarian tissue areas increased in February and reached the maximum in April, and then gradually decreased from May to July, with the spawning peak between June and July. In males, monthly changes in the percents of the testicular tissue areas to total tissue areas and the percents of the spermatogenic stage areas to the testicular tissue areas increased in February and reached the maximum in April, and then showed a rapid decrease from May to July. From these data, it is apparent that the number of spawning seasons in female and male P. (N.) jedoensis occurred once a year, from May to July. Therefore, P. (N.) jedoensis in both sexes showed a unimodal gametogenic cycle during the year. Compared the gametogenic cycle by quantitative statistical analysis in 2007 with the previous qualitative results of this species, the results of the gametogenic cycle calculated by quantitative statistical analysis showed some differentiations in the spawning seasons evaluated by the gonad index by qualitative histological analysis. The intervals of the beginning of two spawning seasons showed one month between the results of quantitative and qualitative analyses. The biological minimum sizes (considering to 50% of group sexual maturity) in female and male clams by quantitative analysis of this species are 32.01 mm in shell length in females and 30.58 mm in males, respectively. According to the mean shell length fitted to von Bertalanffy's equation, 30.58 and 32.01 mm in shell length were considered to be two years old. Therefore, we assume that both sexes of this population begin reproduction from two years of age.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.6-18
• /
• 2001

Larvae of the gunnel Pholis fangi were collected in coastal waters off Daecheon with a bag net from March to June, 1988, and with a ring larva net in February 1989. Maturity and spawning period were analyzed by examination of the gonads of adult fish collected with a bag net from May 1998 through November 1999. In February, the larvae were widely distributed in the outer and inner Cheonsu Bay. From March to April the larvae were present mainly the inner bay; they were absent there in May and found mainly in the outer bay. After June, few gunnel larvae were collected in the study area. This suggests a seaward movement of gunnel from the nursery grounds of the bay to offshore feeding grounds. The otolith of larvae smaller than 10 mm in total length did not show a distinct growth stop. The growth stop is believed to be formed in the early larval stage when the total length is about 10 mm. This period coincides with the time of shoreward migration, suggesting a metabolic change during this period. At a total length of 30 to 40 mm, the shape of the otolith changes from spherical to elongate. Daily growth rate in length was estimated by the Gompertz equation, which is represented as follows: TL = 6.702exp{2.925"1-exp (-0.008 t)"} ($r^2=0.94$, N = 92) Assuming daily deposition of growth increments in the otolith, the time of first growth increment formation was shown to be from December to January. Gonad observations show that Pholis fangi spawns from November to December. So, the hatching time is thought to be about one month.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.477-483
• /
• 1985

This paper describes seasonal changes of total length, hepatosomatic index (HSI), fatness, egg-diameter composition, and fecundity of the longchin goby Chasmichthys dolichognathus(HILGENDORF). The specimens used were captured in the tide pool of Tongbaekseom, Pusan, Korea from February 1983 to January 1984. The age of longchin goby, tested by size frequency, was believed to be usually one year which grows to 8.0 cm in total length. The annual variations of HSI reached the maximum in the early spring when the gonad was actively growing and decreased during the spawning season from April to July. The coefficients of fatness were represented low values for the spawning periods. Frequency distribution of the egg diameter of mature ovary has three modes: one is the evident mode of the ripe eggs group, and the other two are modes of maturing and immature eggs groups. And an individual is considered as spawns one in the spawning season. Relationships between the fish size in total length (TL cm) and the number of ovarian eggs(F), the fish weight (BW g) and the number of ovarian eggs are indicated by the exponential equation respectively : F=42.585 $TL^{1.608}$, F= 524.589 $BW^{0.475}$.

• Development and Reproduction
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.169-181
• /
• 2008

Reproductive ecology of the silver pomfret, Pampus argenteus were investigated by histological observations and morphometric data. Samples were collected by the stow net at the coastal area of Jaun-Do, Muan-gun, Korea, from January to December, 2006. P. argenteus is dioecious, the ovary is composed of many ovarian lobules, showing a pair of saccular structure, and the testis is composed of many seminiferous lobules, showing a pair of lobular structure. From February (growing stage) to September (after spawning), monthly changes in the gonadosomatic index, hepatosomatic index, and condition factor in females and males showed similar patterns with the gonad developmental phases. Judging from the results of their indice, it is assumed that spawning in females and males occur from May to July. The reproductive cycle can be classified into five successive stages in females: early growing stage (February to March), late growing stage (March to April), mature stage (March to July), ripe and spent stage (May to July), and recovery and resting stage (July to February); in males, the cycle can be divided into four successive stages: growing stage (February to April), mature stage (March to June), ripe and spent stage (May to July), and recovery and resting stage (July to February). According to the frequency distributions of egg diameters in the breeding season, P. argenteus is presumed to be spring-summer spawning species and polycyclic species to spawn 2 times or more during one spawning season. Number of total eggs in absolute fecundity were proportional to body length and body weight, respectively. Number of total eggs in absolute fecundity per body weight were also proportional to the body length, but if the increase of body weight considerably increased, rather total eggs in relative fecundity decreased with the increase of body weight. Percentage of first sexual maturity of P. argenteus were over 50% in females and males of 12.1 to 15.0 cm in body length, and 100% for fishes over 18.1 cm in length. Therefore, both sexes were regarded to be sexually mature at one year of age.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.135-142
• /
• 2001

A novel sterategy has been established to determine the origin of the Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs) in avian embryos directly and the developmental fate of the PGCs for the application to Poultry biotechnology. Cells were removed from 1) the centre of area pellucida, 2) the outer of area pellucida and 3) the area opaca of the stage X blastoderm (Eyal-Giladi & Kochav, 1976). When the cells were removed from the centre of area pellucida, the mean number of circulating PGCs in blood was significantly decreased in the embryo at stage 15 (Hamburger & Hamilton, 1951) as compared to intact embryos. When the cells were replenished with donor cells, no reduction in the PGCs number was observed. The removal of cells at the outer of area pellucida or at the area opaca had no effect on the number of PGCs. In case, another set of the manipulated embryos were cultured ex vivo to the hatching and reared to the sexual maturity, the absence of germ cells and degeneration of seminiferous tubules was observed in resulting chickens derived from the blastoderm in which the cells were removed from the centre of the area pellucida. It was concluded that the avian Primordial Germ cells are originated at the center of area pellucida. Developmental ability of the cells to differentiate into somatic cells and germ cells in chimeras were analyzed. Somatic chimerism was detected as black feather attributed from donor cells. Molecular identification by use of female - specific DNA was performed. It was confirmed that the donor cells could be differentiated into chimeric body and erythrocytes. Donor cells retained the ability to differentiate into germline in chimeric gonads. More than 70% of the generated chimeras transmitted donor derived gametes to their offspring indicating that the cells at the center of area pellucida had the high ability to differentiate into germ cells. A molecular technique to identify germline chimerism has been developed by use of gene scan analysis. Strain specific DNA fragments were amplified by the method. It would be greatly contributed for the detection of germline chimerism. Mixed- sex chimeras which contained both male and female cells were produced to investigate the developmental fate of male and female cells in ovary and testes. The sex combinations of donor and recipient of the resulting chimeras were following 4 pairs; (1) chimeras (ZZ/ZZ) produced by a male donor (ZZ) and a male recipient (ZZ), (2) chimeras (ZW/ZW) produced by a female donor (ZW) and a female recipient (ZW), (3) chimeras (ZZ/ZW) Produce by a male donor (ZZ) and a female recipient (ZW), (4) chimeras (ZW/ZZ) produced by a female donor (ZW) and a male recipient (ZZ). It was found that genetically male avian germ cells could differentiate into functional ova and that genetically female germ cells can differentiate into functional spermatozoa in the gonad of the mixed- sex chimeras. An ability for introduction of exogenous DNA into the PGCs from stage X blastoderms were analyzed. Two reporter genes, SV-$\beta$gal and RSV-GFP, were introduced into the PGCs. Expression of bacterial/gal was improved by complexing DNA with liposome detectedcc in 75% of embryos at 3 days embryos. At the embryos incubated for 1 day, expression of the GFP was observed all the embryos. At day 3 of incubation, GFP was detected in about 70% of the manipulated embryos. In case of GFP, expression of the transgene was detected in 30 %e of the manipulated embryos. These results suggested that the cells is one of the most promising vectors for transgenesis. The established strategy should be very powerfull for application to poultry biotechnology.