Colmenero et al.: Reproductive strategy of Lophius piscatorius in Mediterranean waters 
65 
oOO fjm ■ , 
5 cm 
Figure 3 
Images of a female of the species Lophius showing (A) an ovary that occupies the entire 
abdominal cavity; (B) a close-up of the female gonad; and (C) a hexagonal chamber of the 
mucoid veil, which contains an unfertilized egg of white anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius) and 
(D) a scanning electron micrograph of yolk vesicles from the inside of the ovum of a white 
anglerfish. 
of fish species by preserving breeding individuals and 
establishing a legal minimum size. 
The results of our study of white anglerfish in the 
northwestern Mediterranean Sea indicate that a long 
spawning period occurs during mid-winter and late 
i spring, from February through June, although a sec- 
I ondary breeding period has been observed in November 
I and December. These results agree with those obtained 
I in studies that were focused on the northeastern Atlan- 
I tic Ocean, where this species spawns from November 
I through June (Fulton, 1898; Afonso-Dias and Hislop, 
1 1996; Hislop et al., 2001). However, a previous study 
in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea identified a 
spawning season during spring-summer (Ungaro et al., 
2002). Discrepancies between the latter study and our 
work may be explained by the differences in sampling 
periods. 
Nevertheless, spawning seasonality, which is associ- 
ated with environmental conditions and local oceano- 
graphic features, varies between species as well as by 
geographical area. An example of this variability in 
spawning seasonality can be observed in 2 locations 
along the Atlantic-Iberian coast: on the Portuguese 
and western Spanish coasts, spawning of the white 
anglerfish takes place during winter-spring (Duarte et 
al., 2001), whereas on the northern Spanish coast (Bay 
