Morphological and histological studies were carried out on the ovaries of the small-scaled terapon, Terapon puta, from the Lake Timsah, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt. The fish specimens were seasonally collected during a period of three consecutive years that extended from June 2011 to May 2014. The morphological studies of T. puta indicate that the maturity stages of the ovaries could be divided into three stages, namely: the pre-spawning, the spawning and the post-spawning stages. Histologically, the oogenesis in T. puta is divided into six oocyte developmental stages, namely: oogonium, chromatin nucleolar, early perinucleolar, late perinucleolar, vesicular and vitellogenic stages. Moreover, the oogonia, chromatin nucleolar, early and late perinucleolar are found all over the year, however they are predominant in the pre-spawning and post-spawning seasons, but they are rarely encountered in the spawning season. In addition, the vesicular oocytes are usually abundant in the pre-spawning and spawning seasons and entirely absent in the post-spawning season. In addition, the vitellogenic stage is of common occurrence in the ovaries during the spawning season; however, it is rarely encountered during the post-spawning season and entirely absent in the pre-spawning season.
Key words: Oogenesis, cystovary, zona radiata, vitellogenesis,
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