The International Journal of Developmental Biology

Int. J. Dev. Biol. 63: 597 - 604 (2019)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.190144hu

Vol 63, Issue 11-12

Morphological differences in embryos of goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus) under different incubation temperatures

Original Article | Published: 27 February 2020

Hirotaro Urushibata*,1,2, Eisuke Takahashi1, Yu Shimizu1, Toshiya Miyazaki2, Takafumi Fujimoto1, Katsutoshi Arai1 and Etsuro Yamaha2

1Nanae Freshwater Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University and 2Laboratory of Aquaculture Genetics and Genomics, Faculty and Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract

The goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus) is a useful species for embryonic micromanipulations because of its large egg size and wide temperature tolerance. Here, we describe in detail the rate of development and morphological characteristics of goldfish embryos incubated at temperatures between 10 °C and 30 °C. The cleavage speed increased rapidly as temperature increased. Synchronized cell divisions occurred at 131 min intervals at 10ºC, at 33 min intervals at 20 °C, and at 19 min intervals at 30 °C during the cleavage period. The rate of hatched abnormal embryos significantly increased at temperatures of 26 °C and above, while there was no change in the number of abnormal embryos at temperatures less than 24 °C. Moreover, the blastomeres around the center of the blastodisc rose in the direction of the animal pole at temperatures less than 14 °C. At the lower temperatures, clusters of maternally-supplied germplasm were visualized both at the ends of the first three cleavage furrows and at the border between the lower and upper tiers at the 16- to 32-cell stage, with injection of artificial mRNA and vasa in situ hybridization. This study showed that temperature affects not only developmental speed but also the shape of the blastodisc and the distribution of maternally-supplied materials in the blastodisc. By controlling the temperature, it is possible for researchers to prepare many stages of embryos and shapes of the blastodisc from a single batch of eggs.

Keywords

cleavage, embryonic development, morphogenesis, normal developmental, primordial germ cell, PGC

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