Aspects of gonadal morphology in the South georgian plunderfish Artedidraco mirus (Perciformes: Artedidraconidae)

Research on reproduction in Antarctic fishes has been primarily focused on evaluation of macroscopic features while microscopic studies have been limited to very few species. In particular no data are available on plunderfishes of the family Artedidraconidae. In order to provide a preliminary description of gonads in the South Georgian plunderfish Artedidraco mirus morphological observations on ovary and testis were carried out using both macroscopic and histological approaches. All fishes were collected during the ICEFISH cruise, at South Georgia Island in June 2004. The ovary was a typical hollow structure: from the ovarian wall connective tissue projected into the ovarian cavity forming ovigerous folds where oocytes were located. The testis was of the lobular-type with lobules defined by connective tissue septa within the testicular wall. The presence of specimens showing post-spawning features suggested that the spawning process was being concluded during the sampling period.