GnRH cell size and number in a teleost fish with two male reproductive morphs: sexual maturation, final sexual status and body size allometry.

Gonadotropin releasing hormone-like immunoreactive (GnRH-ir) cells in both the ganglion of the terminal nerve (TN) and the preoptic area (POA) have been implicated in the development and maintenance of reproductive behavior and physiology in teleost fishes. One marine species, the plainfin midshipman, Porichthys notatus, exhibits two sexually mature male morphs (types I and II) which differ with respect to size at sexual maturation, gonad/body weight index, reproductive tactic and vocal motor traits. Type II males become reproductively active at a smaller body size than either females or type I males. Immunocytochemical techniques and quantitative analyses were used here to determine the size and number of GnRH-ir cells in the TN and POA amongst field collected juveniles, sexually mature females, and type I and II males. Mean GnRH-ir cell size and number in the TN did not vary across the entire range of specimens. However, mean GnRH-ir cell size and number in the POA were 50-100% greater in sexually mature adults compared to juveniles. Analyses of covariance indicated that increases in cell number, but not cell size, could be explained solely on the basis of changes in body size. However, regression analyses showed that body size had a significant influence on increasing cell number only in the juvenile-type I male transition and the juvenile-female transition, not in the juvenile-type II male transition. The latter suggests that type II males, unlike the other adult morphs, have 'escaped' from a body size constraint imposed on increasing GnRH-ir cell number in the POA. There were also significant differences among the adult morphs in the size of GnRH-ir POA cells that could not be explained on the basis of differences in body size but, rather, appear to reflect differences in the temporal onset of sexual maturation. Together, the data suggest that the timing of changes in POA phenotype may provide a proximate mechanism permitting the development of alternative male reproductive morphs.