Inter‐population ovarian fluid variation differentially modulates sperm motility in Atlantic cod Gadus morhua

This study tested the hypothesis that the effects of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua ovarian fluid on sperm motility variables are population specific. Sperm from a northern G. morhua population were activated in the presence of ovarian fluid from either northern or southern G. morhua at different concent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Fish Biology
Main Authors: Beirão, J., Purchase, C. F., Wringe, B. F., Fleming, I. A.
Other Authors: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2015
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12685
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fjfb.12685
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jfb.12685
Description
Summary:This study tested the hypothesis that the effects of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua ovarian fluid on sperm motility variables are population specific. Sperm from a northern G. morhua population were activated in the presence of ovarian fluid from either northern or southern G. morhua at different concentrations. Ovarian fluid acted as a filter, in some cases reducing sperm swimming performance compared with seawater. Fluid from females foreign in population (southern) to the males (northern) had a greater inhibiting effect than those from the native population. Follow‐up analysis indicated that the ovarian fluids had lower Ca 2+ concentration in northern than southern G. morhua , which could be the causative mechanism. If widespread, such cryptic female choice could reduce the incidence of intraspecific hybridization among diverged populations and contribute to reproductive isolation.