Evidence for sperm storage in common smoothhound shark Mustelus mustelus and paternity assessment in a single litter from South Africa

Abstract

The present histological study of adult female common smoothhound shark Mustelus mustelus demonstrates that the species can store sperm in their oviducal glands. In addition, single paternity of a litter of 22 pups is reported, contributing to further knowledge regarding the genetic and behavioural mating strategy of M. mustelus.

Reproductive cycle and fecundity of the bonnethead Sphyrna tiburo L. from the northwest Atlantic Ocean

“…Therefore, these results suggest that the female sperm storage may occur in NWA S. tiburo populations for 6–7 months following copulatory activity, which was confirmed to occur in late September based on direct evidence of male‐induced mating wounds on females as well as the presence of spermatozoa in both the lumen and SSTs of the oviducal gland. Although similar evidence for short‐ to long‐term sperm storage in the oviducal gland has been reported for several elasmobranch species ( e.g ., gummy shark Mustelus antarcticus Günther 1870, Storrie et al ., 2008; Portuguese dogfish Centroscymnus coelolepis du Bocage and Capello 1864, Moura et al ., 2011; narrownose smoothhound Mustelus schmitti Springer 1939, Elías, 2015; common smoothhound Mustelus mustelus L., Maduna et al ., 2018), the physiological mechanisms that control this process and its fitness benefits remain largely unstudied. Because of their abundance in southeast U.S. waters and well‐described reproductive patterns, S. tiburo is a good candidate species for further study on this topic.…”

The Life History of the Southern Lanternshark, Etmopterus granulosus, from the Southwestern Indian Ocean

“…The extremes of embryonic development likely indicate different times of fertilization rather than natural variations in development if fertilization were to occur at the same time. Sperm storage is known to occur in all elasmobranch species in which it has been investigated (Maduna, Van Wyk, Da Silva, Gennari & Bester-Van Der Merwe, 2018;Pratt, 1993), offering a reasonable explanation for the discrepancy in gestational development, particularly because it is unknown when and where they mate.…”