STUDIES ON THE BIOLOGY AND REPRODUCTION OF THE MARINE FISH TERAPON PUTA

Abstract

Seasonal studies were carried out on the biology, histology, and ultrastructure of the gonads of the small-scaled terapon, Teraponputa, collected from the Lake Timsah, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, during the period extending from June 2011 through May 2014. The biological studies of T. puta revealed that it has a prolonged spawning season that extends from early Spring (April) to late Summer (August). In females T. puta, the ovaries are of the cystovaries type. Moreover, the oogenesis is divided into six oocyte developmental stages, namely: oogonium, chromatin nucleolar, early perinucleolar, late perinucleolar, vesicular and vitellogenic stages. In males T. puta, the testes are of the lobular unrestricted spermatogonial type, and the spermatogenesis is of the cystic type. In addition, spermatogenesis is divided into six stages, namely: the spermatogonia A, spermatogonia B, primary spermatocytes, secondaryspermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa.