FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 81, NO. 3 



Juvenile specimens were obtained for gonadal 

 analysis from the Field Museum of Natural History, 

 Chicago, 111., and the Institute of Marine Science, 

 University of North Carolina, Morehead City, N.C. 



RESULTS 

 Gonadal Development 



The paired ovaries of C. microps are suspended 

 below the swim bladder by mesovarium in the most 

 posterior portion of the body cavity. The mesovarium 

 extends the length of the ovary and contains the 

 ovarian arteries. Oogenesis and vitellogenesis occur 

 within the ovigerous lamellae which are distributed 

 evenly and project laterally and medially from the 

 tunica albuginea. The absence of lamellae from a 

 narrow band in the ventral portion of the ovary forms 

 an ovocoel. This facilitates ovarian expansion and 

 collection of ripe ova released from the lamellae prior 

 to extrusion through the common oviduct (Moe 

 1969). 



Testes of blueline tilefish are solid, smooth tex- 

 tured, compressed laterally, and relatively more 

 elongate than ovaries. They are suspended from the 

 swim bladder by the mesorchium, which has a wide 



base of attachment along the medial surface. Each 

 testis enters the urinary papilla by a separate 

 sperm duct. 



The structure and developmental pattern of the 

 testes are similar to that described by Smith (1965) 

 as tubular. The primary spermatogenic units are 

 radial spermatogenic tubules and spermatogenic 

 crypts. In cross section, the spermatogenic tubules 

 are essentially a ring, one spermatogonium or one 

 spermatogenic crypt thick (Fig. 2). An elastic con- 

 nective tissue, the Sertoli cells, encapsulates and 

 maintains the integrity of the tubules and the in- 

 dividual developing crypts. It presumably serves as 

 the site of steroidogenesis (Lofts 1968; Hoar 1969). 

 Development proceeds at varying rates within each 

 spermatogenic tubule, analogous to that in the 

 ovigerous lamellae, so that active spermatogenic 

 tubules usually contain crypts at all stages of 

 development (Fig. 3). Spermatids were the most ad- 

 vanced stage observed within a crypt. Spermio- 

 genesis, the morphogenesis of spermatid to sperma- 

 tozoa, occurred around the time of passage from 

 crypt to the lumen of the spermatogenic tubule. 



Whereas in many fishes the interstitial tissue 

 separating the developing tubules breaks down at 

 later stages of development resulting in extensively 



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FIGURE 2. — Cross section of Early-Developing testes from a 530 mm TL Caulolatilus microps collected 15 March 1977. 

 Note radial spermatogenic tubules (SPT) composed principally of primary spermatogenia (SGI) with few developing 

 crypts, and the presence of spermatozoa (SP) in the lumen of the spermatogenic tubules (Haematoxylin X 200). 



556 



