Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:59:52.312Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The causes of buoyancy in eggs of marine teleosts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J. C. A. Craik  and
S. M. Harvey
J. C. A. Craik
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD
S. M. Harvey
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pelagic eggs and demersal eggs of teleosts both have osmotic concentrations similar to that of the maternal body fluids, less than half that of sea water. Pelagic eggs are buoyant because they contain such large quantities of this dilute aqueous fluid. While the demersal eggs of teleosts usually have a water content of 60–70%, the buoyant pelagic eggs of marine teleosts such as whiting, Norway pout, saithe, cod, haddock, turbot, dab, plaice, witch, long rough dab, halibut and sole typically have a very high water content (ca. 92 %) and a lipid content of 10–17% of egg dry weight. About 90% of the buoyancy of such eggs in sea water is caused by their high aqueous content, only about 10% being caused by lipid. The buoyant eggs of grenadier and ling have large oil globules and higher lipid contents, 27 and 35 % of dry weight respectively. Nevertheless, most of their buoyancy is provided by their high aqueous contents (89 and 81 % water). The high water content of pelagic eggs is brought about by a massive influx of water into the oocytes during meiotic maturation (ripening) after vitellogenesis but before ovulation. In cod and plaice, ripening is accompanied by a four- to five-fold increase in both water content and free amino-acids, and by a large influx of both potassium and sodium. In cod, free amino-acids contribute much more than these inorganic ions to the water influx and to the total osmotic concentration of the mature egg, but in plaice the relative contribution of inorganic ions approaches that of the free amino-acids.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , February 1987 , pp. 169 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balon, E. K., 1977. Early ontogeny of Labeotropheus Ahl, 1927 (Mbuna, Cichlidae, Lake Malawi) with a discussion on advanced protective styles in fish reproduction and development. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2, 147–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, H. & Blackstock, J., 1973. Estimation of lipids in marine animals and tissues: detailed investigation of the sulphophosphovanillin method for ‘total’ lipids. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 12, 103–118.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. & Ehrlich, K. F., 1974. Changes in behaviour during starvation of herring and plaice larvae. In The Early Life History of Fish (ed. Blaxter, J. H. S.), pp. 575–588. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.cGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S., Wardle, C. S. & Roberts, B. L., 1971. Aspects of the circulatory physiology and muscle systems of deep-sea fish. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 51, 991–1006.Google Scholar
Bligh, E. G. & Dyer, W. J., 1959. A rapid method of total lipid extraction and purification. Canadian Journal of Biochemistry and Physiology, 37, 911–917.Google Scholar
Bone, Q. & Roberts, B. L., 1969. The density of elasmobranchs. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 49, 913–937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coombs, S. H., Fosh, C. A. & Keen, M. A., 1985. The buoyancy and vertical distribution of eggs of sprat (Sprattus sprattus) and pilchard (Sardina pilchardus). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 65, 461–474.Google Scholar
Corner, E. D. S., Denton, E. J. & Forster, G. R., 1969. On the buoyancy of some deep-sea sharks. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 171, 415–429.Google Scholar
Craik, J. C. A. & Harvey, S. M., 1984. Biochemical changes occurring during final maturation of eggs of some marine and freshwater teleosts. Journal of Fish Biology, 24, 599–610.Google Scholar
Craik, J. C. A. & Harvey, S. M., 1986. Phosphorus metabolism and water uptake during final maturation of ovaries of teleosts with pelagic and demersal eggs. Marine Biology, 90, 285–289.Google Scholar
Davenport, J., Lønning, S. & Kjørsvik, E., 1981. Osmotic and structural changes during early development of eggs and larvae of the cod Gadus morhua L. Journal of Fish Biology, 19, 317–331.Google Scholar
Day, A., 1951. Nomograph Relating Salinity, Density and Temperature. Admiralty Hydrographic Department.Google Scholar
Denton, E. J., 1961. The buoyancy of fish and cephalopods. Progress in Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, 11, 177–234.Google Scholar
Denton, E. J., 1974. Buoyancy in Marine Animals. Oxford University Press. [Oxford Biology Readers, no. 54.]Google Scholar
Denton, E. J., Gilpin-Brown, J. B. & Shaw, T. I., 1969. A buoyancy mechanism found in cranchid squid. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 174, 271–279.Google Scholar
Eldridge, M. B., Joseph, J. D., Taberski, K. M. & Seaborn, G., 1983. Lipid and fatty acid composition of the endogenous energy sources of striped bass (Morone saxatilis) eggs. Lipids, 18, 510–513.Google Scholar
Eldridge, M. B., Whipple, J. A. & Bowers, M. J., 1982. Bioenergetics and growth of striped bass, Morone saxatilis, embryos and larvae. Fishery Bulletin. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, 80, 461–474.Google Scholar
Fulton, T. W., 1898. On the growth and maturation of the ovarian eggs of teleostean fishes. Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 1897 (3), 88–134.Google Scholar
Holliday, F. G. T. & Blaxter, J. H. S., 1960. The effects of salinity on the developing eggs and larvae of the herring. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 39, 591–603.Google Scholar
Holliday, F. G. T. & Jones, M. P., 1965. Osmotic regulation in the embryo of the herring (Clupea harengus). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 45, 305–311.Google Scholar
Holliday, F. G. T. & Jones, M. P., 1967. Some effects of salinity on the developing eggs and larvae of the plaice (Pleuronectes platessa). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 47, 39–48.Google Scholar
Kaitaranta, J. K. & Ackman, R. G., 1981. Total lipids and lipid classes offish roe. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 69 B, 725–729.Google Scholar
Mahler, H. R. & Cordes, E. H., 1966. Biological Chemistry. New York: Harper & Row. [International edition.]Google Scholar
Ramsay, J. A. & Brown, R. H. J., 1955. Simplified apparatus and procedures for freezing-point determinations upon small volumes of fluid. Journal of Scientific Instruments, 32, 372–375.Google Scholar
Riis-Vestergaard, J., 1982. Water and salt balance of halibut eggs and larvae (Hippoglossus hippoglossus). Marine Biology, 70, 135–139.Google Scholar
Sargent, J. R., 1976. The structure, metabolism and function of lipids in marine organisms. Biochemical and Biophysical Perspectives in Marine Biology, 3, 149–212.Google Scholar
Soin, S. G., 1964. Adaptive characteristics of the structure and development of fish eggs and embryos promoting their respiration. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta (Moscow University Herald) (ser. 6), no. 1, 9–31. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Solemdal, P., 1967. The effect of salinity on buoyancy, size and development of flounder eggs. Sarsia, 29, 431–42.Google Scholar
Stevens, R. E., 1966. Hormone-induced spawning of striped bass for reservoir stocking. Progressive Fish-Culturist, 28, 19–28.Google Scholar
Tocher, D. R. & Sargent, J. R., 1984. Analyses of lipids and fatty acids in ripe roes of some northwest European marine fish. Lipids, 19, 492–499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wallace, R. A., 1978. Oocyte growth in nonmammalian vertebrates. In The Vertebrate Ovary: Comparative Biology and Evolution (ed. Jones, R. E.), pp. 469–502. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Wallace, R. A., 1985. Vitellogenesis and oocyte growth in nonmammalian vertebrates. In Developmental Biology, vol. 1 (ed. Browder, L. W.), pp. 127–177. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Wallace, R. A. & Selman, K., 1981. Cellular and dynamic aspects of oocyte growth in teleosts. American Zoologist, 21, 325–343.Google Scholar
Wallace, R. A. & Selman, K., 1985. Major protein changes during vitellogenesis and maturation of Fundulus oocytes. Developmental Biology, 110, 492–498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed