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Research Article
Spawning habits and embryonic development of the lampeye killifish Aplocheilichthys spilauchen in ex situ fresh-and-brackish water environments
Isaac Okyere
Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8725-1555
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This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Declarations:
Declarations
- This study involved the use of non-human vertebrates.
- The author has confirmed that all appropriate ethical guidelines for the handling and use of animals in research have been followed and details of the oversight board have been included in the text.
- The author has confirmed that a statement listing potential conflicts of interest or lack thereof is included in the text.
Aside from ornamental uses of killifishes, there is growing interest in using killies for a multiplicity of purposes including baitfish and mosquito biocontrol. This experiment explored the spawning habits and embryonic development of the banded lampeye, Aplocheilichthys spilauchen in ex situ freshwater (0.04 ‰) and brackish water (5.01 ‰) to ascertaining the captive breeding prospects for mosquito control in areas where they occur. Significantly higher number of eggs were laid in the brackish water than the freshwater (ꭓ2 = 1613.0, P < 0.05), and black mop was the most preferred spawning substrate, followed by green, blue and white mops. Microscopic monitoring of embryos revealed that cleavage occurred within the first 30 minutes after fertilisation, organogenesis commenced in averagely the 25th hour, and hatching in approximately 230 hours. Although certain embryonic developmental stages occurred faster in the freshwater than brackish water and freshwater eggs were relatively bigger than brackish water eggs, these differences were overall not significant and had no effects on the development and hatching. The observed outcome that A. spilauchen can be optimally propagated with black mops in brackish water offers a significant step in its use for the mosquito biocontrol programme, as well as other potential uses not yet explored.
Keywords
Killifish, Banded lampeye, Spawning habits, Substrate preference, Embryonic development
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This is a preprint. It has not completed peer review.
Research Article
Spawning habits and embryonic development of the lampeye killifish Aplocheilichthys spilauchen in ex situ fresh-and-brackish water environments
Isaac Okyere
Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8725-1555
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 21 Dec, 2020
No community comments so far
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Declarations:
Declarations
- This study involved the use of non-human vertebrates.
- The author has confirmed that all appropriate ethical guidelines for the handling and use of animals in research have been followed and details of the oversight board have been included in the text.
- The author has confirmed that a statement listing potential conflicts of interest or lack thereof is included in the text.
Aside from ornamental uses of killifishes, there is growing interest in using killies for a multiplicity of purposes including baitfish and mosquito biocontrol. This experiment explored the spawning habits and embryonic development of the banded lampeye, Aplocheilichthys spilauchen in ex situ freshwater (0.04 ‰) and brackish water (5.01 ‰) to ascertaining the captive breeding prospects for mosquito control in areas where they occur. Significantly higher number of eggs were laid in the brackish water than the freshwater (ꭓ2 = 1613.0, P < 0.05), and black mop was the most preferred spawning substrate, followed by green, blue and white mops. Microscopic monitoring of embryos revealed that cleavage occurred within the first 30 minutes after fertilisation, organogenesis commenced in averagely the 25th hour, and hatching in approximately 230 hours. Although certain embryonic developmental stages occurred faster in the freshwater than brackish water and freshwater eggs were relatively bigger than brackish water eggs, these differences were overall not significant and had no effects on the development and hatching. The observed outcome that A. spilauchen can be optimally propagated with black mops in brackish water offers a significant step in its use for the mosquito biocontrol programme, as well as other potential uses not yet explored.
Figure 1
Figure 2