Biomedical and Life Sciences

This volume describes the myriad ways in which fish have approached problems of reproduction - it is an amply illustrated comparative study of the microscopic structure of the female genital systems of fish. The timing of its appearance is auspicious in that it coincides with the decline of the golden age of descriptive morphology. It is a compilation of thousands of micrographs - mostly electron micrographs - from classic works in the field and should prove valuable to investigators studying fish in areas such as ecology, physiology, and reproductive biology who may view histology as essential in their work but have little background in this area. It includes chapters on the origin of genital systems, the structure of ovarian follicles, mechanisms of ovulation, the cortical reaction, oviducts, oviparity, and amazing examples of viviparity.