Abstract
The tough egg envelope of teleost fishes is an effective barrier against penetration of sperms. However, there is a special structure, the micropyle, situated at the animal pole of the egg, which allows the passage of a sperm to the oocyte membrane. The inner diameter of the micropyle is about 1.5 microns. The fine structure of the micropyle and the surface pattern around its opening are species-specifi c and are, therefore, used for identifi cation processes. It is of phylogenetical interest that Acipenser, which belongs to the chondrostei, has 7 micropyles. Some authors quote up to 15 for chondrostei. Holostei have only one micropyle ‘(Ginzburg, 1968, 1972; Cherr and Clark, 1982; Riehl, 1991)’. The sperm-activating factor in the micropyle area will be dealt with under fertilization (Chapter 9).
‘Pour bien savoir les choses il faut en savoir le détail.’
LaRochefoucauld
small opening, from Gk. micro = small, pute = gate
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© 2004 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Kunz, Y.W. (2004). Micropyle. In: Developmental Biology of Teleost Fishes. Fish & Fisheries Series, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2997-4_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2997-4_7
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