Comparative Ultrastructures of the Fertilized Egg Envelopes in Nothobranchius foerschi and Nothobranchius rachovii, Nothobranchiidae, Teleostei

Abstract

In the case of genus Nothobranchius, Nothobranchiidae, the morphology of fertilized eggs and ultrastructures of fertilized egg envelopes have been reported in only two fishes. Therefore it is hard for sure to these morphological characteristics show genus specificity because of lower research samples. So, we studied the morphology of fertilized egg, and compared the ultrastructures of outer surface, micropyle, and section of fertilized egg envelopes under the light and electron microscopes from the other two species, Nothobranchius foerschi and Nothobranchius rachovii, Nothobranchiidae to find out whether these structures have the species specificity or not. Both fertilized eggs were spherical, demersal and adhesive, and have a large oil droplet. The adhesive whip-like structures were distributed on the outer surface of egg envelope, and a micropyle located on the animal pole. The fertilized egg envelope consisted of two distinct layers: an outer electron-dense layer with adhesive structures and an inner lamellae layer in both species. The external shapes of fertilized egg and ultrastuctures of outer surface, micropyle, and section of fertilized egg envelope have same structure including results before. Our data indicate that these morphological characteristics of fertilized egg and fertilized egg envelope show genus Nothobranchius specificity.