Testes investment and spawning mode in pipefishes and seahorses (Syngnathidae)

Externally fertilizing fishes are predicted to invest heavily in testes, because large numbers of sperm should be favoured by the high risk of sperm competition from sneaker males, and/or the dilution of ejaculates when shed into open water. Using museum specimens, we measured testes mass and body mass of 83 mature males, belonging to 21 genera of the family Syngnathidae (pipefishes and seahorses). In this family all species show paternal care, ranging in degree from eggs being attached to the skin of the male, to eggs being completely enclosed and nurtured within a brood pouch. The former, 'unprotected' group, is thought to have external fertilization, whereas in the latter, 'protected' group, males fertilize the eggs internally in their brood pouch. Smaller relative testes investment was thus predicted for genera that have protected compared with unprotected brood care. However, we found this not to be the case. Instead, all genera showed the same relationship between testes and body mass, regardless of brooding type. The possible implications of this surprising result are discussed, including the possibility that the mode of fertilization might have been misjudged for the pouchless syngnathids.  © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2004, 83 , 369–376.     

Aerobic nitrogen fixation is confined to a subset of cells in the non-heterocystous cyanobacterium Symploca PCC 8002

Symploca PCC 8002 Kützing is a filamentous cyanobacterium that lacks the specialized cells, known as heterocysts, that protect nitrogenase from O₂ in most aerobic N₂-fixing cyanobacteria. Nevertheless, Symploca is able to carry out N₂ fixation in the light under aerobic conditions. When cultures were grown under light/dark cycles, nitrogenase activity commenced and increased in the light phase and declined towards zero in the dark. Immunolocalization of dinitrogenase reductase in sectioned Symploca trichomes showed that the enzyme was present only in 9% of the cells. These cells lacked any obvious mechanical protection against atmospheric O₂ and their ultrastructural characteristics were similar to those of cells that did not contain any dinitrogenase reductase. The nitrogenase-containing cells possessed carboxysomes that were rich in ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase and phycoerythrin, a light harvesting pigment of PS II. This indicates that these cells had a capacity for both N₂ fixation and photosynthesis. The significance of the localization pattern for dinitrogenase reductase is discussed in the context of N₂ fixation in Symploca PCC 8002.     

Mating distribution and its temporal dynamics affect operational sex ratio: a simulation study

The present study investigated how variation in mating distribution in time and among males influences the operational sex ratio (OSR) with a simulation inspired by paternally caring fish. Varying (1) the potential reproductive rate of each sex, (2) the mating distribution among males, and (3) the length of male mating phase, we created different mating patterns. In each case, we searched for the adult sex ratio that resulted in an OSR of 50% (where sex-roles switch). This approach enabled a comparison with a previous model. We found that the OSR was influenced by the distribution of matings in time and among males when the male mating phase was limited by a parental phase. Furthermore, the mating dynamics were shaped by the fact that the numbers of males and females and their capacities for collateral investment affected OSR immediately from the start of the reproductive season, whereas their times-out had a delayed effect on OSR.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 89 , 551–559.     

Microsatellite evidence for monogamy and sex-biased recombination in the Western Australian seahorse Hippocampus angustus

Four polymorphic microsatellite loci were used to assess biological parentage of 453 offspring from 15 pregnant males from a natural population of the Western Australian seahorse Hippocampus angustus . Microsatellite genotypes in the progeny arrays were consistent with a monogamous mating system in which both females and males had a single mate during a male brooding period. Multilocus genotypes implicated four females in the adult population sample as contributors of eggs to the broods of collected males, but there was no evidence for multiple mating by females. Based on genotypic data from the progeny arrays, two loci were linked tightly and the recombination rate appeared to be ≈ 10-fold higher in females than in males. The utility of linked loci for parentage analyses is discussed.