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Size at first maturity of Brachidontes rodriguezii (d'Orbigny, 1846) from the South-western Atlantic Ocean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2016

María Eugenia Torroglosa
Affiliation:
Instituto de Biodiversidad, Biología Experimental y Aplicada (IBBEA), CONICET-UBA, Argentina
Juliana Giménez*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Biodiversidad, Biología Experimental y Aplicada (IBBEA), CONICET-UBA, Argentina Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, FCEN UBA, Argentina
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: J. Giménez IBBEA, CONICET-UBA, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, FCEN UBA, Argentina email: [email protected]

Abstract

The size at first maturity of the bivalve Brachidontes rodriguezii was estimated in a population located in the northernmost limit of its distribution along Argentinean coast. Specimens were collected in two consecutive reproductive seasons from December 2011 to February 2012 and from December 2012 to February 2013. Individuals were evaluated using biometric and histological analyses of the gonads. This study intended to provide important information about the development of gonadal tissue according to shell length increase. Our results showed immature specimens lack gonads or exhibited groups of cells undergoing mitosis adjacent to the epithelium of the mantle and the tubules of the digestive gland. Male and female gonad development extended to mantle lobes and visceral mass as long as maturation occurred to reach sexual maturity. Using a logistic model our results showed that the size at which 50% of females were mature at a gonadal level was 7.05 mm in shell length; in males, 50% of the population were mature at 8.13 mm in shell length. The minimum shell length at which maturity was observed was 6.99 mm in shell length in females and 6.00 mm in shell length for males.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2016 

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