ABSTRACT

Natural phenomena act as external cues that stimulate the reproductive activity of many marine organisms. In this study, we report the gonadal maturation in relation to the lunar cycle of wild-caught Atlantic sea urchin, Arbacia punctulata (Echinodermata: Arbaciidae, an edible marine invertebrate), in the Gulf of Mexico. Weekly changes in gonadal development were observed histologically according to the lunar cycle during the summer months from May to July. Histological observations revealed that testes were developed synchronously around the new moon in June and July. Several testes collected in the same moon phase contained residual sperm (~7%) or testicular lobules/acini fully occupied by mature sperm (~46%). Cyclic ovarian development was also observed during the summer months, some ovaries collected around the new moon in June and July contained oocytes at maturation stage (ova: ~39-71%) or empty follicles, suggesting that the Atlantic sea urchin spawns according to the lunar cycle in the Gulf of Mexico. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the lunar reproductive rhythm of Arbacia species in the Gulf of Mexico.

摘要

自然现象作为外部线索刺激许多海洋生物的繁殖活动。在这项研究中，我们报告了与野生捕获的大西洋海胆Arbacia punctulata的月球周期相关的性腺成熟（棘皮动物：Arbaciidae，一种可食用的海洋无脊椎动物），在墨西哥湾。根据 5 月至 7 月夏季月份的月球周期，在组织学上观察到性腺发育的每周变化。组织学观察显示，睾丸在六月和七月的新月前后同步发育。在同一月相收集的几个睾丸含有残余精子（~7%）或完全被成熟精子占据的睾丸小叶/腺泡（~46%）。夏季的几个月也观察到卵巢的周期性发育，一些在六月和七月新月前后采集的卵巢含有处于成熟阶段的卵母细胞（卵子：~39-71%）或空卵泡，这表明大西洋海胆是根据墨西哥湾的月球周期。据我们所知，墨西哥湾的阿巴西亚种。