Reproductive Timing of the Largescale Stoneroller, Campostoma oligolepis, in the Flint River, Alabama

摘要

The purpose of this research was to ascertain the reproductive timing of a species that has been scantily researched. Campostoma oligolepis , the Largescale Stoneroller, inhabits freshwater streams from Michigan to the Mobile Basin and parts of the Ozark region. Specimens totaling 768 were collected from March, 2014 to September, 2015 from the Flint River in Northern Alabama. By assessing the size and condition of testes, ovaries, and subsequent oocytes, their reproductive schedule could be determined. Ovaries are latent from June through October. They begin developing oocytes in November and continue to enlarge through their reproductive peak. Gonads reached peak reproductive potential in April of 2014 and in March of 2015. This variation was positively correlated with environmental fluctuations of the Flint River. A few bourgeois males develop enlarged testes and are presumably responsible for the majority of egg fertilization while the majority of males have small, regressed testes year-round.