Welcome to Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology! Today is Share:

Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2021, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (11): 4156-4164.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202111.029

• Reviews • Previous Articles    

Reproductive traits of common Euphausids in the south of Antarctic Polar Front

ZHU Guo-ping1,2,3,4*, WEI Bei-bei1,2   

  1. 1College of Marine Sciences, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China;
    2Center for Polar Research, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China;
    3Polar Marine Ecosystem Laboratory, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Sustainable Exploitation of Oceanic Fisheries Resources, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China;
    4National Engineering Research Center for Oceanic Fisheries, Shanghai 201306, China
  • Online:2021-11-15 Published:2022-05-15
  • Supported by:
    The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41776185) and the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC1406801).

Abstract: Euphausiids (krill) is a basic component of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, with a key role in the Antarctic marine food web. Krill may be the largest unexploited animal protein source for human beings. There is a great deal of interest in exploiting krill resources. Our understanding is poor about the biology of those species, particularly the reproductive traits of krill species, expect for Euphausia superba. Here, we reviewed related studies and revealed that different species of krill undergo similar physiological steps during ovary development. There are regional variations in the size of krill oocytes. The sexual maturity stages of female krill could be classified by observing the thelycum and ovarian morphology. There are latitudinal variations in spawning periods among species and regional variations within species. Most observations showed that krill samples are dominated by females. Future research should be conducted, i.e., (1) strengthening the study on the reproductive traits of krill, besides Euphausia superba, and further to explore the effects of seasonal and regional reproductive traits on the distribution of krill around Antarctica, (2) focusing on experimental biology in order to clarify the mechanism of spawning times of krill and further to calculate accurately the fecundity to evaluate the impacts of exploiting krill resource.

Key words: Antarctic krill, reproduction, spawning, ovary, sex ratio.