gross morphology of the gonads, and removed and studied sperm from the genital 

 tracts of female Trachycorystes insignis ( = Trachefyopterus galeatus). Other than his 

 study, and general descriptions of the gonads, eggs, and developing embryos 

 provided by Burgess (1982) and Kopke (1986), there has been no information 

 published about the gonads and gametes. 



I have examined, using scanning electron microscopy and histological 

 preparations, the gonads of several species of ageneiosids and a few 

 nonreproductive auchenipterids, and provide the following descriptions. This is the 

 result of an ancillary study of gametogenesis in ageneiosids and auchenipterids, and 

 does not purvey any systematic information at present. However, there is hope that 

 future studies of these fishes will include descriptions of the soft anatomy of their 

 reproductive systems, since there are Ukely to be some significant taxonomic 

 differences. . > ,, 



In gross appearance, the testes of ageneiosids are paired, lobulated organs, 

 similar in general appearance to the testes of many other catfishes (Roberts 1989b). 

 like ictalurids and several other families, the testes consist of at least two distinctive 

 regions: anterior, lobulated portions, in which spermatogenesis occurs in cysts of 

 synchronously developing germ cells, and a single posterior putatively secretory 

 portion (Sneed and Clemens 1963). The testes are invested by a mesenteric 

 connection to the dorsal coelomic peritoneum and he immediately ventral to the 

 kidneys. The unpaired section of the testes extends posteriorly as the urogenital 

 duct, where it exits near the base of the anal fin, or, in nuptial males, at the terminus 

 of the gonopodium. 



Cytological composition of the spermatogenic portion of the ageneiosid testis 

 is unlike that of any other catfishes that I have examined (mostly ictalurids). Cysts 

 containing germ cells in synchronous stages of development are similar to those of 

 other non-atherinomorph teleosts (Grier 1981). The main difference is in the 

 arrangement of the spermatozoa, which are oriented parallel to each other and form 



