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Karyological and gonadal sex of eels(Anguilla anguilla) from the German Bight and the lower River Elbe
Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen volume 34, pages 159–164 (1980)
Abstract
Yellow eels(Anguilla anguilla) taken during summer from random commercial trapnet samples in the littoral area of Helgoland (n=116) and from a freshwater area of the River Elbe near Hamburg (n=109) were examined with regard to their karyological (i.e. existence of female sex chromosomes) and gonadal sex. In 47 % and 21 % of the two samples, respectively, chromosomes were unidentifiable because of insufficient numbers of mitotic plates. All eels from Helgoland, except one phenotypically undetermined fish, exhibited female gonads: 48 had female sex chromosomes and 13 were karyologically males. As found previously in the River Elbe, eels with male gonads predominated (n=55); 25 were undifferentiated. Of the gonadal males 26 were karyological males and 16 karyological females; the rest could not be identified by chromosome patterns. In contrast, all but one of the Elbe eels with female gonads (n=28) had female sex chromosomes. Some aspects of the sex reversal documented in the eel are considered.
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Passakas, T., Tesch, F.W. Karyological and gonadal sex of eels(Anguilla anguilla) from the German Bight and the lower River Elbe. Helgolander Meeresunters 34, 159–164 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01984037
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01984037