GILMORE ET AL.: REPRODUCTION AND EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT OF SAND TIGER SHARKS 



The entire reproductive tract was removed and ex- 

 amined as fresh, frozen, or preserved material. 

 Uterine fluid volume was determined by tying off 

 both ends of the uterus in a fresh specimen, removing 

 the uterus, making a small incision in the uterine wall, 

 and allowing the contained fluid to drain into a 

 graduated flask. Selected preserved ovaries were cut 

 into sections which were weighed to the nearest 0. 1 g. 

 Ovarian egg counts were made by counting all mac- 

 roscopic eggs in two preserved sections from an 

 ovary of known weight. These ova counts were then 

 multiplied by the ratio of total ovarian weight/section 



weight, to predict the total number of ova in the entire 

 ovary. 



A 13.0 mm TL embryo taken from an egg capsule^ 

 from a shark caught on 8 July 1978 was embedded in 

 paraffin, cut on a rotary microtome at 6 jam on a sagit- 

 tal plane, and stained with a Cason modification of 

 the Mallory-Heidenhain stain (Humason 1972). 



Fresh sperm samples were fixed in 2.5% glutar- 

 aldehyde, prepared for scanning electron micros- 

 copy, and examined on a Zeiss Novascan. Several 

 Polaroid electron micrographs were taken for 

 sperm descriptions. 



1,100 



1,000 



Apr. 



May 



June ' July ' Aug. ' Sept. ' Oct. ' Nov. ' Dec. Jan 



Feb. Mar. 



Month 



FIGURE 1.— Recorded lengths of embryos taken from Odontaspis 

 taurus females captured 1946-80 along the Florida east coast, with 

 hypothetical growth curve (above) of embryos and monthly numbers 

 of adult males and females (bar graph below) captured during the 

 same 34-yr period. 



203 



