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1 February 2012 Histological Observation of the Urogenital Papillae in the Bi-Directional Sex-Changing Gobiid Fish, Trimma okinawae
Yasuhisa Kobayashi, Takeshi Usami, Tomoki Sunobe, Hisaya Manabe, Yoshitaka Nagahama, Masaru Nakamura
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Abstract

The gobiid fish Trimma okinawae changes its sex bi-directionally according to its social status. Morphological changes in the urinogenital papillae (UGP) of this fish have been reported during sex change. However, there have been no detailed observations of such changes. Here, we histologically examined the UGP structure of male- and female-phase fish. UGPs of fish in female and male phase contained both oviducts and sperm ducts. Both ducts were coalesced into one duct within the posterior region of the UGP. Female-phase fish had many longitudinal folds in the hypertrophied tunica mucosa of the oviduct, which was found to be responsible for the transport of eggs and the removal of follicular cells from the oocyte. In contrast, male-phase fish had an immature oviduct and a mature sperm duct in the UGP. In the male-phase fish, the co-existence of spermatozoa and fibrillar secretions was observed in the sperm duct during spermiation.

© 2012 Zoological Society of Japan
Yasuhisa Kobayashi, Takeshi Usami, Tomoki Sunobe, Hisaya Manabe, Yoshitaka Nagahama, and Masaru Nakamura "Histological Observation of the Urogenital Papillae in the Bi-Directional Sex-Changing Gobiid Fish, Trimma okinawae," Zoological Science 29(2), 121-126, (1 February 2012). https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.29.121
Received: 26 April 2011; Accepted: 1 August 2011; Published: 1 February 2012
KEYWORDS
genital duct
gobiid fish
oviduct
sex change
sperm duct
urogenital papillae
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