Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T05:24:01.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Description of the reproductive tract and gonad histology of a second form of hermaphroditism in the Port Jackson shark Heterodontus portusjacksoni

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

Ashlee A. Jones  and
Ian C. Potter
Ashlee A. Jones*
Affiliation:
Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia, 6150
Ian C. Potter
Affiliation:
Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia, 6150
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A.A. Jones, Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia, 6150 email: ashlee.jones@murdoch.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sampling of commercial fisheries bycatch in south-western Australia has yielded a second and different form of hermaphrodite of the Port Jackson shark Heterodontus portusjacksoni. Its total length (706 mm) and weight (2740 g) fall within the range of those of mature males, but below those of mature females. The left clasper was similar to that of normal mature males, whereas the right clasper was far smaller, had a poorly-developed rhipidion groove and lacked a spur. The body cavity possessed a testis on the left, an ovotestis on the right, and contained sperm ducts, oviducal glands and uteri on both sides. As with normal mature males, the testis and the testicular component of the ovotestis contained germ cells in various stages of spermatogenesis, including late stage spermatids. The ovarian component of the ovotestis contained 14 follicles that were larger (5–9 mm diameter) than those of normal females of similar size, which were immature, but far smaller than those of normal mature females. Six of those follicles were atretic. The widths of the left and right oviducal glands and uteri were far greater than those of normal females of similar size, but similar to those of normal mature females. Thus, although gonadal maturation had progressed further in the testis and the testicular component of the ovotestis than in the ovarian component of the ovotestis, the oviducal glands and the uteri of the hermaphrodite were of similar size to those of normal mature females and were far better developed than those of normal females of similar length, which are immature.

Keywords

Port Jackson sharkbycatchhermaphroditeovotestisspermatogenesis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 7 , November 2009 , pp. 1403 - 1407
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Atz, J.W. (1964) Intersexuality in fishes. In Armstrong, C.N. and Marshall, A.J. (eds) Intersexuality in vertebrates including man. London: Academic Press, pp. 145–232.Google Scholar
Awruch, C.A., Pankhurst, N.W., Frusher, S.D. and Stevens, J.D. (2008) Endocrine and morphological correlates of reproduction in the droughboard shark Cephaloscyllium laticeps (Elasmobranchii: Scyliorhinidae). Journal of Experimental Zoology 309A, 184–197.Google Scholar
Bonner Engel, K. and Callard, G.V. (2005) The testis and spermatogenesis. In Hamlett, W.C. (ed.) Reproductive biology and phylogeny of chondrichthyes: sharks, batoids and chimaeras. Volume 3. Endfield, USA: Science Publishers, pp. 170–200.Google Scholar
Capapé, C., Chadli, A. and Baouendi, A. (1979) Cas d'hermaphrodism chez Scyliorhinus stellaris (Linné, 1758) (Pisces, Scyliorhinidae) étude morphologique et histologique. Archive de l'Institut Pasteur de Tunis 56, 343–351.Google Scholar
Iglésias, S.P., Sellos, D.Y. and Nakaya, K. (2005) Discovery of a normal hermaphroditic chondrichthyan species: Apristurus longicephalus. Journal of Fish Biology 66, 417–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, A.A., White, W.T. and Potter, I.C. (2005) A hermaphroditic Port Jackson shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni, with complete and separate female and male reproductive tracts. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 85, 1171–1172.Google Scholar
Jones, A.A., Hall, N.G. and Potter, I.C. (2008) Size compositions and reproductive biology of an important bycatch shark species (Heterodontus portusjacksoni) in south-western Australian waters. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 88, 189–197.Google Scholar
Jones, R.C. and Jones, N. (1982) The structure of the male genital system of the Port Jackson shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni, with particular reference to the genital ducts. Australian Journal of Zoology 30, 523–541.Google Scholar
King, A.D. (1966) Hermaphroditism in the common dogfish (Scyliorhinus caniculus). Journal of Zoology 148, 312–314.Google Scholar
Koob, T.J. and Callard, I.P. (1999) Reproductive endocrinology of female elasmobranchs: lessons from the little skate (Raja erinacea) and spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias). Journal of Experimental Zoology 285, 557–574.Google Scholar
McAuley, R. and Simpfendorfer, C. (2003) Catch composition of the Western Australian temperate demersal gillnet and demersal longline fisheries, 1994–1999. Fisheries Research Report, Department of Fisheries, Western Australia, No. 146, 78 pp.Google Scholar
Pratt, H.L. (1979) Reproduction in the blue shark, Prionace glauca. Fisheries Bulletin 77, 445–470.Google Scholar
Scenna, L.B., Díaz de Astarloa, J.M. and Cousseau, M.B. (2007) Abnormal hermpahroditism in the multispine skate Bathyraja multispinis (Chondrichthyes, Rajidae). Journal of Fish Biology 71, 1232–1237.Google Scholar
Tovar-Avíla, J., Walker, T.I. and Day, R.W. (2007) Reproduction of Heterodontus portusjacksoni in Victoria, Australia: evidence of two populations and reproductive parameters of the eastern population. Marine and Freshwater Research 58, 956–965.Google Scholar
Walker, T.I., Hudson, R.J. and Gason, A.S. (2005) Catch evaluation of target, by-product and by-catch species taken by gillnets and longlines in the shark fishery of South-eastern Australia. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science 35, 505–530.Google Scholar
White, W.T., Platell, M.E. and Potter, I.C. (2001) Relationship between reproductive biology and age composition and growth in Urolophus lobatus (Batoidea: Urolophidae). Marine Biology 138, 135–147.Google Scholar
Yano, K. and Tanaka, S. (1989) Hermaphroditism in the lantern shark Etmopterus unicolor (Squalidae, Chondrichthyes). Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 36, 338–345.Google Scholar