Many teleost fishes can withstand long feed deprivation periods, either due to an eventual lack of food or because of their behavior during reproduction and/or parental care. In this work, the effects of total food restriction on the oogenesis, spermatogenesis, and reproductive hormones of the neotropical cichlid fish Cichlasoma dimerus were studied. Specifically, different pairs were isolated after having a spawning event and were feed-deprived or daily fed for 3 weeks. After that period, gonadal histology, messenger levels of genes related to reproduction (gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1, gonadotropins, and insulin-like growth factor 1) and 11-ketotestosterone plasma levels were evaluated in both groups. Food restriction did not affect the reproductive axis in females since follicular maturation and gene expression showed no differences with respect to controls. However, in males, food restriction showed a stimulatory effect on the reproductive axis, reflected in a greater number of spermatozoa in their seminiferous lobes and spermatic ducts, and in an increase in follicle stimulating hormone messenger expression. Despite the negative effect reported for many fish species, C. dimerus seems to redirect their energy reserves towards gonadal development when faced with to a feed deprivation period.

许多硬骨鱼可以承受长时间的饲料剥夺，无论是由于最终缺乏食物还是因为它们在繁殖和/或父母照顾期间的行为。在这项工作中，总食物限制对新热带慈鲷鱼Cichlasoma dimerus的卵子发生、精子发生和生殖激素的影响被研究。具体而言，在产卵事件发生后分离出不同的配对，并禁食或每天喂食 3 周。在此之后，评估了两组的性腺组织学、与生殖相关的基因的信使水平（促性腺激素释放激素 1、促性腺激素和胰岛素样生长因子 1）和 11-酮睾酮血浆水平。食物限制不影响雌性的生殖轴，因为卵泡成熟和基因表达与对照组没有差异。然而，在男性中，食物限制显示出对生殖轴的刺激作用，反映在其生精叶和精索中更多的精子，以及促卵泡激素信使表达的增加。尽管报告了对许多鱼类的负面影响，当面临饲料剥夺期时，C. dimerus似乎将它们的能量储备重新导向性腺发育。