Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been widely used to describe interspecific differences in egg quality of teleost freshwater fish, but potential intraspecific differences are poorly studied. Eggs of many rheophilic cyprinids are covered with adhesive structures such as attaching villi facilitating egg attachment at substrates of spawning grounds with high currents. Recent findings indicate that the egg quality of the rheophilic cyprinid common nase (Chondrostoma nasus L.), a target species of conservation, differs in the adhesiveness between spawning populations, potentially explaining differences in recruitment success. In this study, a SEM image-based standardized protocol was established to assess egg surface quality of Chondrostoma nasus eggs. Multivariate statistics detected significant differences of egg surface properties among individual females and among three different populations. These differences were mainly attributed to length variability and merging of adhesive villi as well as to coating and filament-like connections of these structures. The findings of this study highlight the need for further investigations to better understand the relationship of egg surface properties, egg stickiness and hatching success to understand the recruitment ecology and performance of early life stages in freshwater fish.

中文翻译：

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SEM 图像揭示了普通鼻 (Chondrostoma nasus L.) 卵表面特性的种内差异

扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 已被广泛用于描述硬骨淡水鱼卵质量的种间差异，但潜在的种内差异研究甚少。许多嗜流性鲤科鱼类的卵覆盖有粘性结构，例如附着绒毛，促进卵附着在高电流产卵场的基质上。最近的研究结果表明，作为保护目标物种的嗜流性鲤科鱼类（Chondrostoma nasus L.）的卵质量在产卵种群之间的粘附性不同，这可能解释了募集成功率的差异。在这项研究中，建立了一个基于 SEM 图像的标准化协议来评估鼻软骨瘤的卵表面质量蛋。多变量统计检测到个体雌性和三个不同种群之间卵表面特性的显着差异。这些差异主要归因于长度可变性和粘性绒毛的合并以及这些结构的涂层和细丝状连接。这项研究的结果强调需要进一步调查以更好地了解卵表面特性、卵粘性和孵化成功之间的关系，以了解淡水鱼早期生命阶段的补充生态和性能。