Gamete quality in fish: evaluation parameters and determining factors

Abstract

The quality of fish gametes, both male and female, are determined by several factors (age, management, feeding, chemical and physical factors, water quality, etc.) that have an impact on the survivability of embryos, larvae and/or fry in the short or long term. One of the most important factors is gamete ageing, especially for those species that are unable to spawn naturally in hatcheries. The chemical and physical factors in hatcheries and the nutrition that they provide can significantly alter harvest quality, especially from females; as a rule, males are more tolerant of stress conditions produced by inadequate feeding, management and/or poor water conditions. The stress produced on broodstock by inadequate conditions in hatcheries can produce adverse effects on gamete quality, survival rates, and the embryonic eggs after hatching.

Example Use of Low-Cost System for Capturing the Kinetic Parameters of Sperm Cells in Atlantic Salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>)

“…The storage of semen samples for several days is a common practice in the industry, where samples are often collected, cryopreserved and then observed upon activation. It is important to evaluate the quality of semen samples as well as their kinetics [18] [29]. To assess sperm quality with our system, we studied the effect of storage over time.…”

Oogenesis and Egg Quality in Finfish: Yolk Formation and Other Factors Influencing Female Fertility

“…Presence of docosahexaenoic acid 22:6 (n-3) in the broodstock diet was found to increase the percentage of morphologically normal eggs in gilthead bream (Sparus aurata) [113]. In Japanese sea bream (Pagrus major), a broodstock diet lacking in eicosapentaenoic acid 20:5 (n-3) resulted in a reduction in the percentage of good eggs compared to the control diet [103].…”

“…In Japanese sea bream (Pagrus major), a broodstock diet lacking in eicosapentaenoic acid 20:5 (n-3) resulted in a reduction in the percentage of good eggs compared to the control diet [103]. European sea bass fed a diet with low levels of n-3 series PUFAs had a lower fecundity and egg viability [113]. However, lower concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid 20:5 (n-3) were found in white bass (Morone chrysops) ova from broodstock fed a diet with higher n-6/n-3 ratios, and docosahexaenoic acid 22:6 (n-3) was found to preferentially be incorporated within ova over other n-3 PUFAs [114].…”

Cryopreservation in fish: current status and pathways to quality assurance and quality control in repository development

“…2015), body size (Carter et al . 2015), age and maturity level (Valdebenito et al . 2015), female-to-female variation (Kjesbu et al .…”