DHP
The changes of DHP in the hemolymph of female crabs before and after mating was shown in Fig 1. At salinity 0‰, the female crabs couldn
’t mate and DHP content in the hemolymph reached the highest, with an average of (51.31±5.47) ng/L, except for salinity 2‰, there was no significant difference among other salinity groups (
P>0.05). The changes of DHP in hemolymph of female crab before and after spawning was shown in Fig 2. DHP content in the hemolymph after spawning at salinity 18‰ was the lowest (
P<0.05) and the average value was (26.09±6.94) ng/L.
DHP plays a leading role in inducing salmon trout egg maturation (
Lin, 1982).
Zhao (1987) found that at the late stage of fish egg maturation and at the beginning of ovulation, DHP will form a peak to induce ovarian follicle maturation and egg nucleus disappearance. When the egg nucleus of rainbow trout disappears, DHP will continue to rise and then remain at a high level
(Kraak et al., 1984). Pu et al., (2018) showed that the content of DHP in serum of
Anguilla japonica was the highest during spawning and decreased after spawning. In this experiment, DHP content in hemolymph of female crab decreased after spawning at salinity 6‰, 12‰ and 18‰, which is basically consistent with the above research results. DHP content in other salinity groups increased after spawning, the reason may be that the female crab is at the early stage of the second oviposition, when DHP increases to prepare for subsequent ovulation. Female crabs do not mate at salinity 0‰, they can mate but can’t spawn in water below salinity 6‰, DHP in hemolymph has been kept at a low level, the reason may be that the low salinity can’t stimulate
E.sinensis to produce some nutrients, resulting in the inhibition of DHP synthesis.
GTH
The change of GTH in hemolymph of female crab before and after mating was shown in Fig 3, the results showed that there was no significant difference in GTH content under different salinity (
P>0.05). Changes of GTH in female crabs hemolymph before and after spawning was shown in Fig 4. At salinity 6‰ and 15‰, GTH in hemolymph of female crab increased after spawning, however, when salinity was 9‰, 12‰, 18‰ and 21‰, GTH decreased after spawning, but there were no significant differences among the salinity groups after spawning (
P>0.05).
GTH is a hormone secreted by the pituitary gland of teleost fish and plays an important role in the regulation of its reproductive cycle
(Li et al., 2013). When the final physiological maturity was reached, the oocytes could ovulate and fertilize normally. During this process, GTH must be used to stimulate the growth, development, maturation and ovulation of germ cells (
Otsu, 1963;
Yano et al., 1988). When rainbow trout was approaching egg maturation, the content of GTH in hemolymph continued to rise and then stabilized at a high level until all eggs were produced (
Fostier et al., 1978). GTH could also induce the ovarian follicles of Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout to produce DHP until the egg nucleus disappeared
(Fostjer et al., 1978). In this experiment, the trend of DHP and GTH in the hemolymph of female crab after spawning was basically the same, which showed that DHP also needed the participation of GTH to jointly play an important role in the ovulation process of female
E. sinensis.
PG
The change of PG in hemolymph of female crab before and after mating was shown in Fig 5, the results showed that there was no significant difference in the hemolymph under different salinity (
P>0.05). The changes of PG in female crab hemolymph before and after spawning was shown in Fig 6. When the salinity was 6‰ and 18‰, PG content in the hemolymph after spawning decreased and when the salinity was 6‰, PG content was significantly different from that before spawning (
P<0.05). After spawning, PG content reached the highest at salinity 12‰, with an average of (274.30±37.58) ng/mL.
PG is widely distributed in aquatic animals, they can promote gonadal development and ovulation and are closely related to reproductive ability
(Xing et al., 2019). Nagaraju et al., (2004) confirmed that PG existed in the tissues of
Oziotelphusa Senex Senex and can promote the ovarian development of crabs, which was related to the reproductive ability of organisms.
Meunpol et al., (2010) found that PG levels in ovaries and hemolymph of female shrimp fluctuated with different stages of ovarian development and PG could significantly accelerate the growth of oocytes. In this experiment, there was no significant change in PG content after mating under different salinity, indicating that PG had no significant effects on the mating of female crab. The follicles of
Perca flavescens produce a large number of PG under DHP stimulation and result in ovulation effect (
Berndtson, 1989). In this experiment, when the salinity was 18‰, GTH, DHP and PG contents in the hemolymph after spawning significantly reduced, the reason may be that the reproductive performance parameters of female crabs, such as spawning volume, fecundity and reproductive index, reached the maximum at salinity 18‰
(Huang et al., 2022). The trends of above three hormones are basically the same, indicating that three hormones may interact during the reproduction of
E. sinensis.
E2 and T
Change of E
2 content in hemolymph of female crab before and after mating was shown in Fig 7. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in E
2 content before and after mating (
P>0.05). Change of E
2 in female crab hemolymph before and after spawning was shown in Fig 8. When salinity was 9‰ and 18‰, E
2 content decreased after spawning. Change of T content in hemolymph of female crab before and after mating was showed in Fig 9. When the salinity was 0‰, T content was the lowest, with an average of (16.82±1.02) nmol/L; with the increase of salinity, T content also increased gradually, but there was no significant difference between each group (
P >0.05). The changes of T content in hemolymph before and after spawning was showed in Fig 10. When the salinity was 6‰, T content in hemolymph before and after spawning was the highest, with an average of (21.68±3.25) nmol/L and (23.21±0.86) nmol/L, respectively, but there was no significant difference between them (
P>0.05).
This experiment found that when the salinity was 6‰, T content in the hemolymph of female crabs before and after spawning all reached the maximum. The reason may be that when the salinity was 6‰, the reproductive performance of female crabs was the lowest
(Huang et al., 2022). At this time, the female crab still retains a lot of nutrients, which may be in the early stage of the second spawning. Teleost fish ovaries can synthesize T, which is then converted into E
2 under the action of aromatase (Zhao
et al., 1985). At the end of the vitellogenesis of rainbow trout, the contents of E
2 reached the maximum, but the concentration of E
2 decreased rapidly at the final maturation of oocytes and ovulation and then gradually increased until stable
(Kraak et al., 1984). The concentration of E
2 in hemolymph of rainbow trout decreased 30 days before ovulation, while GTH increased and GTH induced the production of T in ovary
(Scott et al., 1983). In this experiment, except for salinity 18‰, the content of T in the hemolymph of female crabs in other salinity groups increased after spawning, which may be due to the difference in the mechanism of T on female crabs and other fish during the spawning stage of
E.sinensis.
Zhao et al., (1985) found that T can promote GTH induced DHP synthesis, E
2 inhibits the synthesis of DHP by GTH, meanwhile T can be converted to E
2. In this experiment, the content of T decreased after spawning, while the content of E
2 increased, which was basically consistent with the above results. There was no obvious correlation between E
2 and T contents and salinity, which may be because the effects of two hormones on mature crabs were mainly concentrated at the stage of gonadal development, they probably played a small role during the mating and spawning.