Abstract
Interspecific hybridisation is common in aquaculture. The maturation of hybrids is an important issue for successive breeding and reducing the risk of genetic pollution if they escape from sea cages. This study examined the maturation of Kue-Tama, the hybrid of the longtooth grouper Epinephelus bruneus × giant grouper E. lanceolatus (LGGG) produced on 16 April 2014. We used 60 LGGG, five of which were treated with methyltestosterone (MT) and the others were not. We assessed the spermiation response (SpR) of all LGGG from March 2018 to May 2020 and sperm motility from September 2019 to May 2020. We also analysed seasonal fluctuations in plasma sex steroids (estradiol 17β [E2] and 11-ketotestosterone [11-KT]) and gonad histology from April 2018 to February 2019. We confirmed SpR in all MT-treated LGGG and in five out of 55 untreated LGGG. Some LGGG from both groups exhibited SpRs throughout the year. The spermatozoa from both groups showed vigorous motility. SpR in MT-treated LGGG occurred at low 11-KT levels (< 0.1 ng/ml), whereas that in untreated LGGG occurred at high levels (> 273.4 ng/ml). The E2 levels in a few LGGG without SpR increased significantly from September 2018 to February 2019. The April gonads were identified as ovaries without histological confirmation, whereas the July and September gonads were verified histologically. One of the three gonads collected in July 2019 contained vitellogenic oocytes. Our study demonstrated that male LGGG hybrids mature throughout the year and that females can undergo vitellogenesis in the subtropical waters and photoperiod conditions of Amami Islands.
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All relevant data supporting the findings of this study are within the manuscript, if any, and are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Mr. Hiroki Yaghi, Yoshiki Katsuda, and the staff of the Amami Station of the Aquaculture Technology and Production Center, Kindai University, who kindly assisted with the sampling. We are also grateful to Dr. Hiromi Ohta, Professor Emeritus at Kindai University, and Dr. Sho Shirakashi, Associate Professor of Kindai University, for their constructive advice. We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.jp) for English language editing. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewer and editor for their constructive inputs that helped improve the manuscript.
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This study was supported by the Kindai University Fund for Domestic Research.
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S. M. contributed to study conception and design. S. M. and R. A. conducted the investigation and formal analyses. S. M. wrote the first draught of the manuscript and R. A. commented on it.
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The study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of the Aquaculture Research Institute of Kindai University and was conducted according to the Guidelines for Animal Experimentation at the Aquaculture Research Institute of Kindai University.
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Masuma, S., Aoki, R. Maturation in a hybrid grouper, Kue-Tama, a cross between female longtooth grouper, Epinephelus bruneus, and male giant grouper, E. lanceolatus. Aquacult Int (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-023-01333-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-023-01333-y