Integrative study of the reproductive biology and growth of the characin dientudo paraguayo Acestrorhynchus pantaneiro (Characiformes, Acestrorhynchidae) presented as a protandrous hermaphroditic fish

Abstract

We studied the reproductive strategy, sexual system and growth of dientudo paraguayo Acestrorhynchus pantaneiro. After 2 years of monitoring in shallow areas of a floodplain lake from the lower Paraná basin (Argentina), it was evidenced that water temperature modulated gonadal maturation, but it was the river water level the synchronising stimulus that triggered spawning. This species exhibited a single annual breeding period from October to January, with most spawning activity in November. According to the von Bertalanffy growth curve, fish would reach autumn to winter months with LS of ~120 mm, already mature males. The first mature females were found at LS of 210 mm, becoming sexually mature between the second and third breeding seasons. This is the first integrative study that includes the body-length frequency distribution and sex differential size at first maturity and growth, and reports the presence of intersex gonads questioning its sexual pattern from gonochoristic to sequential hermaphrodite species. The sexual pattern, the multiple spawning behaviour and a medium to high absolute fecundity support the opportunistic and invasive behavior observed in previous contributions for this characiform species.