Reproductive strategy of Antarctic krill (<italic style="font-style: italic">Euphausia</italic> <italic style="font-style: italic">superba</italic>) in the south Scotia Sea: revisiting the oocyte development and morphological changes with multiple seasonal analysis

Yu LIU; Guoping ZHU

doi:10.1007/s00343-025-4135-z

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Reproductive strategy of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in the south Scotia Sea: revisiting the oocyte development and morphological changes with multiple seasonal analysis

Biology | Updated：2025-10-16

- Reproductive strategy of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in the south Scotia Sea: revisiting the oocyte development and morphological changes with multiple seasonal analysis
- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 43, Issue 5, Pages: 1596-1608(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.College of Marine Living Resource Sciences and Management, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
  2.Center for Polar Research, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
  3.National Engineering Research Center for Oceanic Fisheries, Shanghai 201306, China
  4.Polar Marine Ecosystem Group, The Key Laboratory of Sustainable Exploitation of Oceanic Fisheries Resources, Shanghai Ocean University, Ministry of Education, Shanghai 201306, China
- Author bio：
  
  gpzhu@shou.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s00343-025-4135-z
  CLC：
- Received：12 May 2024，
  
  Accepted：23 August 2024，
  
  Online First：29 November 2024，
  
  Published：01 September 2025
- Accepted：
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LIU Yu,ZHU Guoping.Reproductive strategy of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in the south Scotia Sea: revisiting the oocyte development and morphological changes with multiple seasonal analysis[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2025,43(05):1596-1608.
DOI：

LIU Yu,ZHU Guoping.Reproductive strategy of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in the south Scotia Sea: revisiting the oocyte development and morphological changes with multiple seasonal analysis[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2025,43(05):1596-1608. DOI： 10.1007/s00343-025-4135-z.

摘要

Abstract

Antarctic krill (

Euphausia

superba

) is a keystone species in the Southern Ocean; however

seasonal variations in reproductive development for krill are complex and remains unknown. A histological investigation with observations of external secondary sex features of krill in the south Scotia Sea region was carried out using a multi-seasonal dataset for detail reproductive descriptions for this commercially important species. The monthly development of secondary sexual characteristics

the thelycum

as well as of oocytes over a period of two years were described. It was observed that krill have diverse reproductive development characteristics within the ovary

and that this function differently between the juvenile

sub-adult

and adult stages. During the summer

adult krill ovaries are large and ripe with oocytes rich in yolk ready for release in late summer. Post spawning

the ovaries resorb

fragment

and regress throughout the autumn and winter. During reproductive diapause period

krill focus on absorbing nutrients. Un-released eggs are reabsorbed by the ovary

the permanent germinal zone is active

and early oocytes begin to develop in preparation for the egg production phase. Krill that are about to spawn have an ovary that fills the space between the digestive gland and muscle. The ovarian development of krill is divided into 10 sexual developmental stages. As a part of this study

data on the carapace thickness with similar development patterns in krill size and carapace width

was investigated for the first time to help understand krill growth and development.

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Keywords

references

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Reproductive strategy of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in the south Scotia Sea: revisiting the oocyte development and morphological changes with multiple seasonal analysis

DOI：10.1007/s00343-025-4135-z

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references