Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
Center for Fisheries Research and Development, School of Ocean Science and Engineering, The University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs, Mississippi, USA.
J Fish Biol. 2021 Aug;99(2):308-320. doi: 10.1111/jfb.14717. Epub 2021 Jun 17.
Hardhead catfish Ariopsis felis are a common marine catfish in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The low economic value of this species has depressed interest and research, and although the species is known for its extremely low fecundity and large oocytes, little else is known about this catfish species. A total of 1230 samples across all months of the year from 2016 to 2018 resulted in 681 females, and analysis of gonado-somatic index (I ) revealed 1% to be a clear cut-off indicating maturity. Females are considered capable of spawning from April to June when I averaged 4-8%. Both atresia and post-ovulatory follicles were present in July, suggesting that spawning ends in July in the northern GOM. The 1% I cut-off was used to designate maturity, and from that an L of 253 mm was estimated. Batch fecundity from 41 females estimated a mean batch size of 36 oocytes. Perhaps the most interesting finding was the presence of secondary growth stage oocytes (e.g., cortical alveoli) from July through November, well outside the spawning capable period. Furthermore, 78% of females had some early vitellogenic oocytes present during the non-spawning season, and the distribution of these relatively large (2-5 mm) oocytes did not change over time. The results here are not only important as reproductive biology information for a common and abundant species, but also present interesting and unusual patterns of non-spawning season oocyte development that is not commonly seen in Western Hemisphere subtropical fish species.
硬头猫 Ariopsis felis 是墨西哥湾（GOM）沿海水域常见的海产猫科鱼类。该物种经济价值低，因此研究和关注较少，尽管已知其具有极低的繁殖力和大型卵母细胞，但对这种猫科鱼类的了解甚少。2016 年至 2018 年，全年共采集了 1230 个样本，其中 681 个为雌性样本，对性腺-体指数（I）的分析表明，1%的指数可以明确地指示成熟度。当 I 平均值为 4-8%时，雌性鱼被认为能够在 4 月至 6 月产卵。7 月既有闭锁卵泡又有排卵后卵泡，这表明在 GOM 北部，产卵期在 7 月结束。使用 1%的 I 指数作为成熟的指标，并由此估计出 L 值为 253 毫米。41 条雌鱼的批量繁殖能力估计平均批量大小为 36 个卵母细胞。最有趣的发现是，7 月至 11 月存在次级生长阶段的卵母细胞（例如皮质小泡），这远超出了可产卵的时期。此外，78%的雌鱼在非产卵季节有一些早期卵黄生成卵母细胞存在，这些相对较大（2-5 毫米）的卵母细胞的分布在整个非产卵季节没有变化。这些结果不仅为常见且丰富的物种提供了生殖生物学信息，而且还呈现了非产卵季节卵母细胞发育的有趣而不寻常的模式，这种模式在西半球亚热带鱼类中并不常见。
