This book presents a comprehensive overview on egg production in fish, from the standpoint of the oocyte. It covers oocyte development, maturation, hydration and fertilization. The book places special emphasis on using state-of-the-art tools for discerning the ultra-structure of the follicle and genomic/proteomic tools to fully understand biological basis of fish reproduction.

This book addresses the growing needs in deciphering the biological processes associated with fish reproduction, in view of the growth of aquaculture and the dwindling natural stocks of commercially important fish. It presents a comprehensive overview on egg production in fish, from the standpoint of the oocyte. With this view in mind, the book includes chapters on oocyte development (oogenesis), hormonal regulation and hormone receptors, formation of the egg envelopes, growth, accumulation of nutrients and maternal transcripts, maturation, hydration, ovulation and fertilization. A special emphasis is placed on using state-of-the-art tools including electron microscopy for discerning the ultra-structure of the follicle and genomic/proteomic tools to fully understand biological basis of fish reproduction. Studies on promoting oocyte maturation, ovulation and spawning in farmed fish and preservation of fish oocytes at low temperatures are also included. The book will appeal to University lecturers, students, research scientists and those associated with culture of fish in freshwater or marine aquaculture.

Summarizes and integrates the results obtained on the study ovarian components with the techniques like electron microscopy and histochemistry in order to provide an insight into the basic subcellular, and molecular aspects of human primordial follicles, oogenesis (oocyte growth and maturation), ovulation, fertilization and early embryogenesis.

Eggs of all animals contain mRNAs and proteins that are supplied to or deposited in the egg as it develops during oogenesis. These maternal gene products regulate all aspects of oocyte development, and an embryo fully relies on these maternal gene products for all aspects of its early development, including fertilization, transitions between meiotic and mitotic cell cycles, and activation of its own genome. Given the diverse processes required to produce a developmentally competent egg and embryo, it is not surprising that maternal gene products are not only essential for normal embryonic development but also for fertility. This review provides an overview of fundamental aspects of oocyte and early embryonic development and the interference and genetic approaches that have provided access to maternally regulated aspects of vertebrate development. Some of the pathways and molecules highlighted in this review, in particular, Bmps, Wnts, small GTPases, cytoskeletal components, and cell cycle regulators, are well known and are essential regulators of multiple aspects of animal development, including oogenesis, early embryogenesis, organogenesis, and reproductive fitness of the adult animal. Specific examples of developmental processes under maternal control and the essential proteins will be explored in each chapter, and where known conserved aspects or divergent roles for these maternal regulators of early vertebrate development will be discussed throughout this review. Table of Contents: Introduction / Oogenesis: From Germline Stem Cells to Germline Cysts / Oocyte Polarity and the Embryonic Axes: The Balbiani Body, an Ancient Oocyte Asymmetry / Preparing Developmentally Competent Eggs / Egg Activation / Blocking Polyspermy / Cleavage/ Mitosis: Going Multicellular / Maternal-Zygotic Transition / Reprogramming: Epigenetic Modifications and Zygotic Genome Activation / Dorsal-Ventral Axis Formation before Zygotic Genome Activation in Zebrafish and Frogs / Maternal TGF-β and the Dorsal-Ventral Embryonic Axis / Maternal Control After Zygotic Genome Activation / Compensation by Stable Maternal Proteins / Maternal Contributions to Germline Establishment or Maintenance / Perspective / Acknowledgments / References

The large amount of information on fish reproduction available is not always readily accessible to all interested parties. Written to appeal to aquaculturalists, conservation managers, and scientific researchers, Methods in Reproductive Aquaculture provides an overview of available techniques and addresses ways to improve depleted stocks of endange

It is perhaps because fishes live in a buoyant medium, whether it be fresh or sea water, that they show a diversity in body shapes that is unparalleled by other vertebrates. There is also a unique diversity in the modes of reproduction, whether by external or internal fertilization, and this, with the morphology and fine structure of the reproducti

This volume describes the myriad ways in which fish have approached problems of reproduction — it is an amply illustrated comparative study of the microscopic structure of the female genital systems of fish. The timing of its appearance is auspicious in that it coincides with the decline of the golden age of descriptive morphology. It is a compilation of thousands of micrographs from classic works in the field. The volume should prove valuable to investigators studying fish in areas such as ecology, physiology, and reproductive biology who may view histology as essential in their work but have little background in this area.

Topics covered in this volume include: transformation morphology on structures in the head of cichlid fishes; the structure and function of fish liver; atretic follicles and corpora lutea in the ovaries of fishes; effects of gill dimension on respiration; and the efects of pesticides on fish.