REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF THE BRAZILIAN BOCACHICO, Prochilodus brevis (CHARACIFORMES: PROCHILODONTIDAE) IN THE MARECHAL DUTRA RESERVOIR, RIO GRANDE DO NORTE, BRAZIL

• Autor(a) principal: Nascimento, Márcia Maria do
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Nascimento, Wallace Silva, Chellappa, Naithirithi T., Chellappa, Sathyabama
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biota Amazônia
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.unifap.br/index.php/biota/article/view/477

Prochilodus brevis Steindachner 1875, is a native freshwater fish species and understanding its reproductive biology is important for its conservation and management. The present work verified the reproductive aspects of P. brevis and the environmental parameters of the reservoir Marechal Dutra, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The fish were captured, measured, weighed and dissected. The gonads were removed, weighed and examined in order to separate the sexes, and to assess the stage of gonad maturation. Histological studies were carried out for microscopic characterization of the gonads. The gonadosomatic index, sex ratio, fecundity, type of spawning and the spawning period were estimated in relation to rainfall. P. brevis presented a sex proportion of 1.2M:1F. The macroscopic characteristics of the gonads indicated three stages of development: maturing, mature and spent. The microscopic analyses showed four phases of ovarian maturation for the females (initial maturing, final maturing, initial mature and final mature) and three phases of testicular maturation for the males (maturation, mature and spent). The average fecundity was 75.465 mature oocytes, varying from 52.512 to 98.418. The relative frequency distribution of the oocyte diameter sizes indicates that the study species is a total spawner. The values of gonadosomatic index ranged from 0.30 to 20.08 for females and from 1.50 to 6.00 for males. The reproductive period of this species occurred during December to May, coinciding with the rainy season.Keywords: Reproduction; gonadosomatic index; rainfall; gonadal development.