Intraovarian Gestation in Viviparous Teleosts: Unique Type of Gestation among Vertebrates

The intraovarian gestation, occurring in teleosts, makes this type of reproduction a such complex and unique condition among vertebrates. This type of gestation of teleosts is expressed in special morphological and physiological characteristic where occurs the viviparity and it is an essential component in the analysis of the evolutionary process of viviparity in vertebrates. In viviparous teleosts, during embryogenesis, there are not development of Müllerian ducts, which form the oviducts in the rest of vertebrates, as a result, exclusively in teleosts, there are not oviducts and the caudal region of the ovary, the gonoduct, connects the ovary to the exterior. The lack of oviducts defines that the embryos develop into the ovary, as intraovarian gestation. The ovary forms the oocytes which may develop different type of oogenesis, according with the storage of diverse amount of yolk, variation observed corresponding to the species. The viviparous gestation is characterized by the possible intimate contact between maternal and embryonic tissues, process that permits their metabolic interchanges. So, the nutrients obtained by the embryos could be deposited in the oocyte before fertilization, contained in the yolk (lecithotrophy), and may be completed during gestation by additional provisioning from maternal tissues to the embryo (matrotrophy). Then, essential requirements for viviparity in poeciliids and goodeids are characterized by: a) the diversification of oogenesis, with the deposition of different amount of yolk in the oocyte; b) the insemination, by the transfer of sperm to the female gonoduct and their transportation from the gonoduct to the germinal region of the ovary where the follicles develop; c) the intrafollicular fertilization; d) the intraovarian gestation with the development of embryos in intrafollicular gestation (as in poeciliids), or intraluminal gestation (as in goodeids); and, e) the origin of embryonic nutrition may be by lecithotrophy and matrotrophy. The focus of this revision compares the general and specific structural characteristics of the viviparity occurring into the intraovarian gestation in teleosts, defining this reproductive strategy, illustrated in this review with histological material in a poeciliid, of the species Poecilia latipinna (Lesueur, 1821) (Poeciliidae), and in a goodeid, of the species Xenotoca eiseni (Rutter, 1896) (Goodeidae).

A NOVEL PATTERN OF EMBRYONIC NUTRITION IN A VIVIPAROUS REPTILE

Vitellogenesis and placental transfer both contribute substantially to embryonic nutrition in the viviparous scincid lizard Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii. Neonatal wet mass was 396 % greater than egg wet mass and neonatal dry mass was 168 % greater than egg dry mass. We estimate that 49 % of the organic molecules for embryonic growth and metabolism were provided by placental nourishment. This pattern of embryonic nutrition, in which ovarian and uterine contributions are approximately equivalent, has not been reported previously for reptiles. Female Bassiana duperreyi, a closely related oviparous species, produced larger clutches of larger eggs. Although there was a great disparity in egg mass between these two species, differences in newborn composition were less pronounced. Mean dry mass, adjusted for female size, of B. duperreyi eggs was 135 % greater than mean dry mass of P. entrecasteauxii eggs, yet mean dry mass of B. duperreyi offspring was only 21 % greater than that of P. entrecasteauxii offspring. Embryonic gains in water and inorganic salts during gestation in P. entrecasteauxii were substantial and resulted in the production of neonates that contained greater quantities of these variables compared to offspring of B. duperreyi. These data confirm Weekes' hypothesis that P. entrecasteauxii is matrotrophic and support her hypothesis that this species has undergone evolutionary reduction in yolk quantity.