Tissue and Cell 37 (2005) 109–115 Spermatozoal ultrastructure of four Sparidae fishes: Acanthopagrus berda, Acanthopagrus australis, Lagodon rhomboids and Archosargus probatocephus J.-C. Gwo a,b,∗ , J.-Y. Chiu a , C.-Y. Lin c , Y. Su b , S.-L. Yu b a Department of Aquaculture, Taiwan National Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan b NationalPenghu Instituteof Technology, Makung, Penghu 880, Taiwan c Instrumentation Center, NationalTaiwanUniversity, Taipei 106, Taiwan Received 17 September 2004; received in revised form 28 October 2004; accepted 8 November 2004 Abstract The mature spermatozoa of two Taiwan protandrous hermaphrodite Sparidae Acanthopagrus berda and Acanthopagrus australis are inves- tigated and compared with those of other two Sparidae (Lagodon rhomboids and Archosargusprobatocephus) from the Western hemisphere. Ultrastructurally the spermatozoon of these four species has a spherical, homogeneously electron-dense nucleus with an axial nuclear fossa. The midpiece contains one to four spherical mitochondria and encircles the basal body of the flagellum. The mature spermatozoa of the four species are of the primitive or ect-aquasperm form and conform to the teleostean type I spermatozoon with the flagellar axis inserts perpendicular and medial to the nuclear fossa. Variation in the depths of the nuclear fossa and mitochondria number is substantial in these four Sparidae species. This study provide useful systematic characters to the existing knowledge of comparative spermatology of Sparidae. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sperm; Teleost; Morphology; Reproduction; Perciform 1. Introduction The Sparidae (porgies or sea bream), distributed in tropi- cal and temperate seas, are a worldwide marine family. Pic- nic seabream (Acanthopagrus berda) inhabits estuaries and shallow coastal waters throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific (Garratt, 1993; Nelson, 1994). A similar sized congeneric Sparidae, Acanthopagrus australis, is commonly found in the Northwestern coast of Australia (Pollock, 1985) and the northern-most distribution of this species was reported in Ok- inawa, Japan (Masuda et al., 1984). On the other side of the world, another highly prized member of the Sparidae, the sheephead (Archosargus probatocephus), ranges from Canada to Brazil in mainland Atlantic coastal waters has be- come one of the major mariculture items in Florida (Render ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 6 926 4115x1008; fax: +886 2 25093958. E-mail address: gwonet@ms16.hinet.net (J.-C. Gwo). and Wilson, 1992). The pinfish (Lagodon rhomboids) is an important component species of estuary-dependent Sparidae fish in the southeastern United States and has been the sub- ject of many systematic studies (Caldwell, 1957; Cody and Bortone, 1992). For centuries, the Sparidae fishes have been the main economical resource of traditional fishing and exten- sive farming all around the world (Chan, 1990; Gwo, 1994; Kato et al., 2001; Taddei et al., 2001; Gorshkov et al., 2002), surprisingly little is known about their reproductive biology. Fine structural work on spermatogenesis and spermato- zoa continues not only to enhance understanding of the germ cell differentiation but also to provide fresh insights into the relationships between various teleost groups, especially at or above the family level (Grier, 1973; Grier et al., 1990; Mattei, 1991; Medina et al., 2003). In this paper we have fur- ther examined the fine structure of spermatozoa of two Spari- dae (A. berda and A. australis) from Taiwan to increase the current basic information in genus Acanthopagrus, and also compared with those of other two Sparidae (L. rhomboids 0040-8166/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tice.2004.11.003