Montealegre Quijano Santiago, Gómez Gaspar Alfredo
Instituto de Investigaciones Cientificas, Universidad de Oriente y Museo Marino de Margarita, Boca de Rio (Isla de Margarita), Venezuela.
Rev Biol Trop. 2005 Dec;53 Suppl 3:305-12.
The sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus is of some commercial importance on the Southern coast of Margarita Island (Venezuela), where artisan women fishers process and sell the roe. The reproduction cycle of this species had not been fully studied. We collected these sea urchins in two stations from November 1997 through October 1998. The samples were transported fresh to the laboratory to determine weight, diameter and height. The sexual stage was established with a macroscopic scale and the gonadosomatic index (GI). Maturity is achieved when the animals reaches a diameter of 22 mm, although 50% of the population reaches sexual development at diameters of 43 mm (males) and 45 mm (females) at Station 1, and 35 mm for both sexes at Station 2. Mature individuals, in a sexual proportion of 1:1 were collected every month. According to the monthly GI variation and frequency (%) of the development stages, on the southern beaches the main reproductive period begins in April and continues through October, and it is most intensive from May to July, when gonads reach the greatest growth.
在玛格丽塔岛（委内瑞拉）南岸，多色刺海胆具有一定的商业价值，当地的女性渔民会对其进行加工并出售海胆卵。此前，该物种的繁殖周期尚未得到充分研究。1997年11月至1998年10月期间，我们在两个站点采集了这些海胆。样本被新鲜运至实验室，以测定其重量、直径和高度。通过宏观尺度和性腺指数（GI）确定性发育阶段。当动物体直径达到22毫米时达到成熟，不过在站点1，50%的种群在直径为43毫米（雄性）和45毫米（雌性）时达到性发育，而在站点2，两性在直径为35毫米时达到性发育。每月收集成熟个体，雌雄比例为1:1。根据每月性腺指数的变化以及发育阶段的频率（%），在南部海滩，主要繁殖期始于4月并持续至10月，5月至7月最为集中，此时性腺生长最为旺盛。
