Morphology of gonads, maturity and spawning season of Loricariichthys spixii (Siluriformes, Loricariidae) in a Subtropical Reservoir

Abstract

The gonad morphology and spawning season of Loricariichthys spixii in Lajes reservoir

Population structure and reproductive biology of Loricariichthys melanocheilus Reis & Pereira, 2000 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) in the rio Ibicuí, Brazil

“…The values for GSI also began to rise in August/September, peaking in October/November for females and August/September for males. Similar results were found in other Loricariidae in various regions of Brazil, for example, Rhinelepis aspera (Agostinho et al, 1990), Hypostomus commersonii (Agostinho et al, 1991), H. ancistroides (Viana et al, 2008), Rineloricaria latirostris (Barbieri, 1994), Loricariichthys platymetopon (Bailly et al, 2011;Marcucci et al, 2005), L. spixii (Duarte et al, 2007), among others. Males showed distinctly greater condition factor than that of females throughout the study period, probably because of higher energy expenditure of females during the maturation process (Cantanhêde et al, 2007), a feature also reported by Agostinho et al (1990) for Rhinelepis aspera in the rio Paranapanema (state of Paraná).…”

“…In other studies with species of the genus Loricariichthys, e.g. L. platymetopon in the Paranapanema and the Paraná rivers (Marcucci et al, 2005;Bailly et al, 2011) and L. spixii in the Lajes reservoir (Duarte et al, 2007) this pattern also were observed. Although registered for some species, the 1:1 ratio is seldom found.…”

“…According to these researchers, in species of the family Loricariidae, where the behavior of males is that of protecting their offspring in the nest, males are usually larger than females because they may have to face situations of struggle; this behavior is mainly observed for species of the genus Hypostomus (Agostinho et al, 1991). However, this does not seem to be the case for species of the genus Loricariichthys, because as already observed by some researchers (Tos et al, 1997;Marcucci et al, 2005;Duarte et al, 2007), the males of these species carry the eggs, protecting them with a welldeveloped labial expansion; in a state of disorder, males abandon the egg mass with no defense behavior, and return to it as soon as the situation of stress or disturbance ends (Tos et al, 1997). For Loricariichthys melanocheilus, males had smaller sizes than females and in some cases, it was possible to observe this lip expansion; thus, it is assumed that this behavior is similar to that of the other species of Loricariichthys cited above.…”

Relative abundance and reproductive tactics of a Loricariidae species at Saraiva Lagoon, Ilha Grande National Park, MS-PR, Brazil

“…During the reproductive period, the species features an accentuated sexual dimorphism characterized by increase of the lip structures formed in the ventral area of males, where eggs remain attached (Dei Tós et al 1997). This type of parental care appears to be common among Loricariidae (Py-Daniel & Cox Fernandes 2005), and has been recorded for L. typus (Machado-Allison & Lopes-Rojas 1975, Machado-Allison 1990, L. anus (Bruschi-Júnior et al 1997) and L. apixii (Duarte et al 2007). For Megalancystrus aculeatus and Hypostomus ternetzi, males guard the nests where the adhesive eggs are laid (Suzuki et al 2000).…”

Reproductive dynamics of Lycengraulis grossidens (Clupeiformes: Engraulidae) and Platanichthys platana (Clupeiformes: Clupeidae) in a subtropical coastal lagoon

“…For many Neotropical fish species, the reproductive period is associated with changes in water level (Duarte et al, 2007), which is considered one of the most important seasonal events in freshwater environments (Lowe-McConnell, 1999), along with temperature (Baumgartner et al, 2008). Lower temperature and a high water level seem to influence the gonadal development of both L. grossidens and P. platana in Peri Lagoon.…”