Comparative studies on reproductive cycle of reef fishes : approach from environmental changes in tropical waters

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The aim of the present study was to clarify how fish adapted to tropical monsoon environments repeat their annual reproductive cycle. The orange-spotted spinefoot inhabit coral reefs in Indonesia started their gonadal maturation between rainy and dry season. Annual change in primary production in the coral reefs was roughly correlated with that in gonadal maturation, suggesting that in addition to photoperiod and temperature, nutritive condition play a role in initiation of reproductive activity in this fish species. Several light- and nutrition-related genes expressed in the hypothalamus changed according to experimental conditions that mimicked monsoon environments. It was suggested that these genes transduce changes in aquatic environments and activate the higher parts of the reproductive endocrine axis.