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Ovarian development in Argentinean shortfin squid Illex argentinus: group-synchrony for corroboration of intermittent spawning strategy

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Abstract

Modern living cephalopod species have evolved a wide phenotypic diversity and flexibility of reproductive strategies, which is closely linked to the pattern of oogenesis and oocytes ovulation of species. Although it has been suggested that Argentinean shortfin squid Illex argentinus lay eggs intermittently, there is still little evidence for the mode of oocyte production and development. In this study, the ovarian development of I. argentinus was investigated by using histological analysis of ovaries, and six distinct histological stages of ovarian development were found among the ovaries. For each histological stage of the ovary, the frequency distribution of both number and occupied areas by each oogenesis stage was unimodal, and that gradually progressed along with ovarian development. The oocyte size distribution in ovaries before reaching vitellogenic stage was unimodal, bimodal in vitellogenic ovaries, and polymodal in ripe and partially spent ovaries. This evidence indicates that I. argentinus undergoes group-synchronous ovarian development, with a single dominant oocyte stock being produced to develop in several batches for a multiple-batch group-synchronous ovulation and confirms the intermittent spawning strategy of this species.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant NSFC41306127; Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai under Grant 16ZR1415400; and the Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission under Grant 13YZ091. This work was under the protocol of Shanghai Ocean University’s postdoctoral science foundation (A2-0203-00-100325) and Shanghai Ocean University’s Sci-Tech foundation (A2-0203-00-100213). The involvement of Y. Chen was supported by SHOU International Center for Marine Studies and Shanghai 1000 Talent Program. Thanks to Cheng Zhou, Fengying Li, Hao Tang, Guancha Lan, Yue Jin, Guanyu Hu, Miao Zhang, Hang Su, and Min Jiao for the biological data collected in the laboratory; Dr. Chingis Nigmatullin, Dr. Iacopo Bertocci, and other anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments and suggestions on the manuscript; and Mr. Deepan Selvaraj and Ms. Pauline Lichtveld for assistance.

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  1. College of Marine Sciences, Shanghai Ocean University, Huchenghuan Rd 999, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Dongming Lin, Xinjun Chen & Guoping Zhu

  2. The Key Laboratory of Sustainable Exploitation of Oceanic Fisheries Resources, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Ocean University, Huchenghuan Rd 999, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Dongming Lin, Xinjun Chen & Guoping Zhu

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center for National Distant-water Fisheries, Shanghai Ocean University, Huchenghuan Rd 999, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Dongming Lin, Xinjun Chen & Guoping Zhu

  4. National Engineering Research Center for Oceanic Fisheries, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Dongming Lin, Xinjun Chen, Yong Chen & Guoping Zhu

  5. School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, 218 Libby Hall, Orono, ME, 04469, USA

    Yong Chen

  6. College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Huchenghuan Rd 999, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Jizhou Yan

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Lin, D., Chen, X., Chen, Y. et al. Ovarian development in Argentinean shortfin squid Illex argentinus: group-synchrony for corroboration of intermittent spawning strategy. Hydrobiologia 795, 327–339 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3154-y

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