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Life history traits of rare Antarctic dragonfishes from the Weddell Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2018

Mario La Mesa Open the ORCID record for Mario La Mesa [Opens in a new window] ,
Emilio Riginella ,
Fortunata Donato  and
Carlotta Mazzoldi
Mario La Mesa*
Affiliation:
CNR, Institute of Marine Sciences, Largo Fiera della Pesca 1, 60125 Ancona, Italy
Emilio Riginella
Affiliation:
Zoological Station Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy
Fortunata Donato
Affiliation:
CNR, Institute of Marine Sciences, Largo Fiera della Pesca 1, 60125 Ancona, Italy
Carlotta Mazzoldi
Affiliation:
University of Padova, Department of Biology, Via U. Bassi 58/B, 35131 Padova, Italy
*
*[email protected]
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Abstract

The life history traits of bathydraconids, deep-living fishes distributed all around the Antarctic continent, are poorly known. In particular, very few data are available on the relatively rare genera Akarotaxis and Bathydraco. With the aim to fill this gap, sagittal otoliths and gonads were analysed to assess individual age and reproductive features of Akarotaxis nudiceps (Waite, 1916), Bathydraco macrolepis Boulenger 1907 and Bathydraco marri Norman, 1938 collected in the Weddell Sea. Based on the annual growth increment patterns, age estimates ranged between 6–11, 5–11 and 8–11 years for A. nudiceps, B. macrolepis and B. marri, respectively. Most of the gametogenetic processes could be described based on gonad histology for both sexes. Females shared the reproductive features commonly reported in notothenioids, such as group-synchronous ovary development and prolonged gametogenesis. Total fecundity estimates were comparable between the two species of Bathydraco (1500–2500 eggs/female), whereas that of Akarotaxis was one order of magnitude smaller (200–250 eggs/female). Consistently, the mean size of late vitellogenic oocytes showed an opposite trend, being 1.6–1.8 mm in Bathydraco and 2.2 mm in Akarotaxis.

Keywords

agebathydraconidsgametogenesisreproductionSouthern Ocean
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 30 , Issue 5 , October 2018 , pp. 289 - 297
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2018 

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