Implications of different brood pouch structures in syngnathid reproduction

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2005

Authors

Monteiro, NM (Author) Other; Almada, V (Author) Other; Vieira, MN (Author) FCUP

Journal

Title: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

Vol. 85

Pages: 1235-1241

ISSN: 0025-3154

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 39 Citations

Scopus - 39 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Natural sciences > Earth and related Environmental sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-000-15S

DOI: 10.1017/s0025315405012373

Abstract (EN): The evolutionary radiation of the family Syngnathidae was accompanied by a diversification of structures involved in male parental care whose anatomical variations may signal differences in reproductive Strategies, with Increasing egg protection possibly affecting female investment in offspring or larvae quality at the end of the embryonic development phase. An analysis of egg numbers showed significant differences between syngnathids with and without marsupium, suggesting that the brood pouch, besides increasing protection to the male and its eggs, also introduced the ability to carry an additional number of offspring per pregnancy, from one or more females. Curiously, even though larvae sizes do not significantly differ between the considered brooding structure (controlling for male length), seahorse larvae were smaller than expected, given the large volume of the pear-shaped eggs. These observations suggest that the scaled seahorse pouch, although allowing the transport of a great number of offspring and capable of multiple consecutive pregnancies, may impose serious functional constraints, namely those related with oxygenation of the developing larvae, thus explaining the increased egg surface together with the presence of specific salinity control mechanisms inside the marsupium.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7