572 



Fishery Bulletin 93(3), 1995 



stages (Table 1). In Atlantic menhaden spawning at 

 about 20°C, disappearance of the lumen of the 

 postovulatory follicle after loss of alignment of the 

 granulosa layer (transition from stage 2 to 3) distin- 

 guished day-0 from day-1 postspawning ovaries. 

 However, in several other species, features such as 

 pycnotic nuclei, thickness of the thecal layer, and 

 separation of the thecal and granulosa layers are 

 diagnostic for classification of postspawning ovaries 

 (Goldberg et al., 1984; Hunter and Macewicz, 1985; 

 Agarwal et al., 1992). 



Postovulatory follicle durations in Engraulis spe- 

 cies spawning naturally or in those induced phar- 

 macologically to spawn at similar temperatures are 

 equivalent (Hunter and Goldberg, 1980; Goldberg et 

 al., 1984) suggesting that laboratory observations can 

 be used to access spawning frequencies offish in the 

 wild. Our estimates of the durations of particular 

 features of postovulatory follicles must be considered 

 preliminary on the basis of our small sample size, 

 particularly for the 14.8-15.7°C treatment fish. How- 

 ever, our general finding that postovulatory follicle 

 duration within Atlantic menhaden can vary from 

 36 to probably more than 60 hours corresponding to 

 a 5°C range in temperature, supports the view that 

 temperature should be an important consideration af- 

 fecting spawning-frequency estimation in field surveys. 



Acknowledgments 



We thank A. B. Powell for his expertise in identify- 

 ing the stages of the eggs. Preparation of histologi- 

 cal slides, including washing, embedding, sectioning, 

 and staining, were completed by staff of the North 

 Carolina State University School for Veterinary 

 Medicine, Department of Pathology. J. J. Govoni and 

 C. V. Sullivan made helpful and constructive com- 

 ments on the manuscript. This work was partially 

 supported by Grant NA16RG0492 from the Coastal 

 Ocean Program, South Atlantic Bight Recruitment 

 Experiment (SABRE), of the National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration to the University of 

 North Carolina Sea Grant College Program. 



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