MORPHOHISTOLOGY GONADAL OF SEA TURTLES THE POTIGUAR BASIN
Chelonia mydas; Eretmochelys imbricata, gonadal maturation.
Among the seven species of sea turtles, five occurs on the Brazilian coast: Dermochelys coriacea, Chelonia mydas , Caretta caretta, Eretmochelys imbricata e Lepidochelys olivacea. According to the Red List of the IUCN, all species of sea turtles in Brazil are endangered. The majority of works related that the sexual proportion of these animals indicate a population imbalance, having a number excessive of females. Thus, studies of reproductive biology of sea turtles are extremely necessary and important for the conservation of these species for future generations. This work aims to study different morphohistological aspects of male and female's gonads of sea turtle in Potiguar Basin. For this, were evaluated dead and living animals, from strandings, between the beaches of Icapuí/CE and Caiçara do Norte/RN, totaling approximately 400 km. The dead animals were necropsied. During the procedure, the gonads were collected and fixed in Bouin, and then submitted to histological process, through the techniques of hematoxylin-eosin, according Tolosa (2005), being analyzed in an optical microscope. Between January 2011 and December 2015 were recorded 3.960 stranding of sea turtles in the study area. The sample showed sex ratio of 3:1, with a predominance of females. Eighty-five percent of the animals were classified juvenile. 69 samples of gonadal tissue were microscopically analyzed, being 52 females and 17 males, of Chelonia mydas , Eretmochelys imbricata e, Caretta caretta. It was possible to establish three stages of maturation: pre-pubertal, pubertal and mature. The predominance was of pre-pubertal individuals, females presenting homogeneous oocytes and males with seminiferous tubules with a small diameter with absence of sperm. The pre-pubertal females specimens exhibit an average of 36,96 cm (CCC) and the males 33,55 cm (CCC); Pubertal females with an average of 75,11 cm and males 92,5 cm; and mature females with 101,9 cm.