Special Issue "Reproductive Biology in Aquatic Animals: Implications for Aquaculture and Environmental Conservation"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Radosław Kowalski
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: aquatic species gamete preservation; aquatic animal reproduction; gametes quality in aquatic species
Dr. Sayyed Mohammad Hadi Alavi
E-Mail
Guest Editor
School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Dr. Borys Dzyuba
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Zátiší 728/II, 389 01 Vodňany, Czech Republic
Dr. Daniel Żarski
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Gamete and Embryo Biology, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, Tuwima 10 Str., 10-748 Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: gamete biology; oocytes; eggs; sperm; transcriptomics; proteomics; fish; fish reproduction; artificial spawning; controlled reproduction of finfishes; fish endocrinology; fish physiology
Dr. Ákos Horváth
E-Mail
Guest Editor
Department of Aquaculture, Szent István University, Gödöllő, Hungary
Interests: cryobiology; fish reproduction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The seafood production sector already provides more than 50% of the total seafood protein in the world. At the same time, the percentage of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels in 2017 drop down to 65.8%. Growing demand for healthy food and effective protein source drives the aquaculture sector to reach each year new production records. In this situation advances in the aquatic animal's reproduction as well as knowledge useful in wild aquatic animals protections are crucial for reaching the sustainable goals in the sector development.

The special issue welcomes contributions of valuable basic and applied researches that address reproductive biology in a wide range of aquatic animals including, but not limited to, fish, shellfish, shrimps and corals. Special consideration is taken to researches that provide us with valuable information to develop aquaculture practices for commercially important species and endangered species and to assess ecological perspectives of aquaculture practices on the aquatic environment based on basic researches on the reproductive system. In this regard, the effects of environmental pollutants and climate change on reproductive physiology in male aquatic animals are within the scope of the special issue. However manuscripts oriented on research/review of taxa-specific events of gamete interaction are also very welcomed. Moreover, submissions of studies that consider the development of assisted fertilisation methods to increase aquaculture production or biological restocking actions are highly appreciated.

In practice, the issue is divided into the following parts:

  1. Recent advances in reproductive biology in aquatic animals
  2. Development of aquaculture practices for the reproduction of commercially important species of fish, shellfish and shrimps in aquaculture
  3. Gene banking and biological conservation of wild and endangered aquatic animals
  4. The effects of environmental pollutants on reproductive physiology in aquatic animals
  5. The effects of climate change on reproductive physiology in aquatic animals 
Dr. Radosław Kowalski
Dr. Sayyed Mohammad Hadi Alavi
Dr. Borys Dzyuba
Dr. Daniel Żarski
Dr. Ákos Horváth
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  •  reproductive biology in aquatic animals
  • aquaculture practices
  • gene banking
  • biological conservation
  • environmental pollutants
  • reproductive physiology
  • climate change
  • wild aquatic animals protections

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Optimization of Sperm Management and Fertilization in Zebrafish (Danio rerio (Hamilton))
Animals 2021, 11(6), 1558; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061558 - 27 May 2021
Viewed by 1295
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the spontaneous motility of spermatozoa and to optimize sperm collection, short-term sperm storage, and fertilization in zebrafish Danio rerio. The movement of spermatozoon in water was propagated along the flagellum at 16 s [...] Read more.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the spontaneous motility of spermatozoa and to optimize sperm collection, short-term sperm storage, and fertilization in zebrafish Danio rerio. The movement of spermatozoon in water was propagated along the flagellum at 16 s after sperm activation then damped from the end of the flagellum for 35 s and fully disappeared at 61 s after activation. For artificial fertilization, milt must be added to an immobilizing solution, which stops the movement of sperm and keeps the sperm motionless until fertilization. E400 and Kurokura as isotonic solutions were shown to be suitable extenders to store sperm for fertilization for 6 h. E400 stored sperm for 12 h at 0–2 °C. Sperm motility decreased only to 36% at 12 h post stripping for the E400 extender and to 19% for the Kurokura extender. To achieve an optimal level of fertilization and swim-up larvae rates, a test tube with a well-defined amount of 6,000,000 spermatozoa in E400 extender per 100 eggs and 100 µL of activation solution has proven to be more successful than using a Petri dish. The highest fertilization and swim-up larvae rates reached 80% and 40–60%, respectively, with milt stored for 1.5 h in the E400 extender at 0–2 °C. Full article
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Article
Artificial Reproduction of Blue Bream (Ballerus ballerus L.) as a Conservative Method under Controlled Conditions
Animals 2021, 11(5), 1326; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051326 - 06 May 2021
Viewed by 440
Abstract
The blue bream Ballerus ballerus (L.) is one of two species of the Ballerus genus occurring in Europe. The biotechnology for its reproduction under controlled conditions needs to be developed to conserve its local populations. Therefore, a range of experiments were performed to [...] Read more.
The blue bream Ballerus ballerus (L.) is one of two species of the Ballerus genus occurring in Europe. The biotechnology for its reproduction under controlled conditions needs to be developed to conserve its local populations. Therefore, a range of experiments were performed to obtain valuable gametes from blue bream following hormonal stimulation with carp pituitary homogenate (CPH), Ovopel and Ovaprim. CPH and Ovopel were injected twice and Ovaprim—once, under a pectoral fin. The spawners were inspected 12 h after the last injection, and the gametes were collected. Eggs were collected from spawning females and fertilized with sperm from three males. The smallest number of ovulating blue bream (four females) was obtained from individuals stimulated with Ovaprim. There were six to nine ovulating females in the other groups, accounting for 60–90% of the females in the respective groups. The latency period was the shortest in the spawners stimulated with Ovopel. The fish in this group ovulated 14 h after the hormonal injection. Spawning was synchronized and all females spawned simultaneously. The highest average weight of eggs per fish (75.4 g) was obtained from the females stimulated with Ovopel, whereas the individuals stimulated with Ovaprim provided the smallest average amount of eggs (49.5 g). The study showed that blue bream spawners are not very sensitive to reproduction-related handling under controlled conditions. Full article
Article
Changes in Cadmium Concentration in Muscles, Ovaries, and Eggs of Silver European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) during Maturation under Controlled Conditions
Animals 2021, 11(4), 1027; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11041027 - 05 Apr 2021
Viewed by 580
Abstract
This study determined the contents of cadmium (Cd) in the muscles, ovaries, and eggs of silver female European eels. The analysis of cadmium content was performed on female European eels caught during commercial fishing in freshwater in Warmia and Mazury (Poland), and then [...] Read more.
This study determined the contents of cadmium (Cd) in the muscles, ovaries, and eggs of silver female European eels. The analysis of cadmium content was performed on female European eels caught during commercial fishing in freshwater in Warmia and Mazury (Poland), and then subjected to artificial maturation and ovulation processing under controlled conditions. The content of cadmium (Cd) in the tissues was determined by flameless atomic spectrometry using an electrothermal atomizer. The analysis showed statistically significant differences between the cadmium content in the muscles, ovaries, and eggs (p < 0.05) of female European eels. The lowest cadmium content was found in the muscle tissue (0.0012 ± 0.0001 mg kg−1 wet weight) and the highest in eggs (after ovulation) (0.0038 ± 0.0007 mg kg−1 wet weight). Moreover, a relationship was found between the cadmium content in the muscle tissue and the ovaries (R = 0.673; p = 0.0117) in the same fish. The movement of cadmium from tissues to oocytes may indicate a significant problem concerning this heavy metal content in the reproduction of European eel. Full article
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