Fecundity & Histology
Atlantic Menhaden Ovaries Laboratory processing of each fish includes: fork length, whole & eviscerated weight, sex, macroscopic maturity classification, paired ovary weight, scale and otolith removal.
Embedding Ovarian tissue sections in paraffin wax
Embedding ovary sections on the HistoStar™ Embedding Workstation. After the sections are mounted in molten paraffin they are placed on a cooling plate. Once they have fully cooled the samples are popped out of the plastic molds.
Sections form a ribbon Ideally 5-6 good sections are stuck together. The sections are removed using forceps and a wet paint brush and carefully laid on top of 42° C water bath. Choose the best 1-2 sections (depending on the size of the sample) and position them on a microscope slide. Place in a slide drying rack.
Drying Once the tissues are mounted on the slides they are placed on a heated slide drying rack overnight.
Staining Once the slides have been dried overnight they are put in racks and placed in the automatic stainer, and ran through a routine staining procedure which takes ~1 hour. Once complete the stained slides are coverslipped and put in the drying oven for ~48 hours.
Stained and cover-slipped slides
Ova counts Conduct ova counts based on results of the histological slide interpretation.
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Why is the Multispecies Research Group studying the fecundity of Atlantic Menhaden?
Understanding the fecundity of fish species is a vital part of fish stock management. Estimates of population-level fecundity offer improved measures of reproductive potential relative to spawning stock biomass.
Objectives
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Sample Area
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Laboratory Processing & Supplies:Laboratory processing of each fish includes: fork length, whole & eviscerated weight, sex, macroscopic maturity classification, paired ovary weight, scale and otolith removal. Laboratory Processing Supplies:
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Histology Laboratory Supplies:
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Staining Supplies:
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Histological Interpretation Supplies:
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