The Open Fish Science Journal

2009, 2 : 55-58
Published online 2009 April 30. DOI: 10.2174/1874401X00902010055
Publisher ID: TOFISHSJ-2-55

Histological Study of the Sex-Change in the Skunk Clownfish Amphiprion akallopisos

Margarida Casadevall , Eulalia Delgado , Orphal Colleye , Samuel Ber Monserrat and Eric Parmentier
Environmental Sciences Department, Sciences Faculty, Girona University, 17071 Girona, Spain.

ABSTRACT

Sex change in the protandrous fish Amphiprion akallopisos Bleeker, 1853 (F.Pomacentridae) has been analysed. Experiments consisted of placing males together after being separated from their mates, and observe changes in gonad histology at different periods, in order to identify signs of the sex change process. The presence of a first invagination on the male gonad wall, and the observation of the first cortical alveoli oocytes as an indication of the beginning of the vitellogenesis process, was the first symptom of the sex change, which has been detected after 18 days in one of the males. Period needed for the sex changing process was size independent. The process by which wall invagination is converted into ovarian lumen in the future mature ovary is also described.