Gonadal development and sex differentiation in the cichlid fish Cichlasoma dimerus (Teleostei, Perciformes): a light- and electron-microscopic study

Although the overall pattern and timing of gonadal sex differentiation have been established in a considerable number of teleosts, the ultrastructure of early stages of gonadal development is not well documented. In this study, gonads from larval and juvenile stages of laboratory-reared Cichlasoma dimerus were examined at the light-microscopic and ultrastructural levels. This freshwater species adapts easily to captivity and spawns with high frequency during 8 months of the year, providing an appropriate model for developmental studies. Larvae and juveniles were kept at a water temperature of 26.5 +/- 1 degrees C and a 12:12 hour photoperiod. Gonadal development was documented from 14-100 days postfertilization, covering the period of histologically discernible sex differentiation. Gonadal tissue was processed according to standard techniques for light and electron microscopy. C. dimerus, a perciform teleost, is classified as a differentiated gonochorist, in which an indifferent gonad develops directly into a testis or ovary. On day 14, the gonadal primordium consists of a few germ cells surrounded by enveloping somatic cells. Ovarian differentiation precedes testicular differentiation, as usual in teleost fishes. The earliest signs of differentiation, detected from day 42 onward, include the onset of meiotic activity in newly formed oocytes, which is soon accompanied by increased oogonial mitotic proliferation and the somatic reorganization of the presumptive ovary. The ovarian cavity is completely formed by day 65. Numerous follicles containing perinucleolar oocytes are observed by day 100. In contrast, signs of morphological differentiation in the presumptive testis are not observed until day 72. By day 100, the unrestricted lobular organization of the testis is evident. The latest stage of spermatogenesis observed by this time of testicular development is spermatocyte II.