The reproductive biology of the Mediterranean razor fish Xyrichthys novacula was investigated by demographic data and histological analysis of the female, intersexual and male gonads. Specimens were collected by bottom trawl on a monthly basis between June 2000 and July 2001 in a sandy bay in southern Thyrrenian. Gonad histology confirmed that the Mediterranean razor fish is a monandric, protogynous hermaphrodite. Females reac...

A histological analysis of the gonad of the pelagic crystal goby Crystallogobius linearis , from the coastal central area of the Adriatic Sea, showed it to be a truly semelparous species; after the first spawning the mature gonads of both males and females appeared to have lost the capability for further spawning. Mature females had very low fecundity (200–700 mature oocytes) and small egg size (0·2–0·55 mm) similarly to other...

Evidence is presented that apoptosis of intestinal enterocytes is implicated in adult mortality immediately after the breeding season in Aphia minuta , a paedomorphic goby that spends its whole life cycle of

At variance with previous reports, the paedomorphic goby Aphia minuta does not show semelparity, but abbreviate iteroparity like other small Mediterranean gobiid species. In spring, the mature ovary contains several batches of eggs at different stages of vitellogenesis. This indicates that the breeding season of A. minuta is quite long and that spawning takes place at least twice during its short lifespan, involving in each ov...