Reproductive Biology and Histology of Female Brushtooth Lizardfish Saurida undosquamis (Richardson), Family: Synodontidae, from the Mediterranean Coast of Egypt

Reproductive Biology and Histology of Female Brushtooth Lizardfish
Saurida undosquamis (Richardson), Family: Synodontidae, from
the Mediterranean Coast of Egypt
ZIENAB ABDEL-BAKI EL-GREISY
National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Alexandria, Egypt.
Key words: Synodontidea, Saurida undosquamis, Brushtooth lizardfish, Reproductive biology,
Histology, Ovary, Reproduction.
ABSTRACT
The present study aims at the investigation of reproductive biology and ovarian
histology of females Brushtooth lizardfish, Saurida undosquamis (Family: Synodontidae),
from the Egyptian Mediterranean coast.
The study revealed that female S. undosquamis reached the first sexual maturity
at 19.5 cm with a range of 16-22 cm total length of the fish. Seven maturity stages were
determined according to the maturity of the ovary. The highest value of gonadosomatic
index (GSI) was recorded in May and then slightly decreased in the following months. This
slight decrease comes in concomitance with the long spawning season and fractional
spawning character.
At least eight groups of ova diameter in each specimen were recorded. This number
increase up to 15 groups during the complete ripening of the ovary and during the peak of
the spawning season. The presence of different egg diameters in the specimens of the ovary
and appearance of more than two peaks revealed that three or four batches of eggs are
spawned during the annual reproductive cycle of the fish. A strong relation was recorded
between the absolute fecundity and both of the total length and gutted weight of the fish.
Monthly distribution of the maturity stages, GSI, egg diameter revealed that this species has
a long spawning season extending nearly a year round.