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Factors affecting secondary sex characteristics in the yellowtail tetra, Astyanax altiparanae

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Abstract

This study interrogated factors which affect the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics, namely, fin spinelets (rigid dimorphic structure empirically associated with male sexual maturity in characids), in Astyanax altiparanae. Many variables such as the season of the year and several biotic components, including organism length, sex, phase of maturation, and the presence of gonads, were investigated. These factors were then associated with the physiological development of fin spinelets. The development of this trait is related to reproductive strategies but demonstrates considerable population variability as it is found throughout the year in some species but only during specific periods in others. Seventy-five specimens obtained from spontaneous spawn of farmed fish were arbitrarily grouped into small-, medium-, and large-sized groups in both summer and winter. Gonadal histology was performed to confirm each animal’s sex and phase of maturation. Diaphanization of the fish was performed to visualize, count, and measure the fin spinelets. Finally, gonadectomization of some males was utilized to investigate the gonadal effect on the presence of fin spinelets. The present results show that the presence of fin spinelets is a secondary sexual characteristic of males which occurs independently of the season and is always present in males longer than 48 mm. However, in the summer, male specimens presented more rays with fin spinelets than during the winter. Furthermore, since fin spinelets were observed on immature males as well as spawning capable males, their presence cannot be directly associated with sexual maturity in male A. altiparanae, as previously supposed. Finally, gonadectomization resulted in an initial reduction in the length of fin spinelets. However, this trend was eventually normalized with time.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) for the financial support of this research (2010/17429-1 and 2011/11664-1). We also acknowledge CEPTA/ICMBio for generously providing facilities and experimental fish.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Estudos da Reprodução de Peixes Amazônicos (GERPA/LaNec), Faculdade de Biologia, Instituto de Estudo em Saúde e Biológicas (FACBIO/IESB), Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará (UNIFESSPA), Marabá, Pará, Brazil

    Diógenes H. Siqueira-Silva

  2. Post-Graduation Program in Amazonian Animal Reproduction - ReproAmazon - UFPA/Ufra, Belem, Pará, Brazil

    Diógenes H. Siqueira-Silva

  3. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia), Univ Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil

    Rafaela M. Bertolini

  4. Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação da Biota Aquática Continental (CEPTA-ICMBIO), Pirassununga, São Paulo, Brazil

    Nycolas Levy-Pereira, Nivaldo F. Nascimento, José A. Senhorini, Lucas Henrique Piva & George S. Yasui

  5. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos, University of São Paulo (USP), Pirassununga, São Paulo, Brazil

    José Bento S. Ferraz

Authors
  1. Diógenes H. Siqueira-Silva
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  2. Rafaela M. Bertolini
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  3. Nycolas Levy-Pereira
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  4. Nivaldo F. Nascimento
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  5. José A. Senhorini
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  6. Lucas Henrique Piva
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  7. José Bento S. Ferraz
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  8. George S. Yasui
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Correspondence to Diógenes H. Siqueira-Silva.

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Siqueira-Silva, D.H., Bertolini, R.M., Levy-Pereira, N. et al. Factors affecting secondary sex characteristics in the yellowtail tetra, Astyanax altiparanae. Fish Physiol Biochem 47, 737–746 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-020-00832-6

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