Characterization of reproductive aspects in sea turtles from Potiguar Basin RN/CE.
Chelonia mydas, Eretmochelys imbricata, Caretta caretta, gonadal development, sex ratios.
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 300 km. The dead animals were necropsied. During the procedure, the gonads were collected and fixed in formalin 10%, 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. 86 samples of gonadal tissue wereanalized microscopically, being 58 females and 28 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 37,07 cm (CCC) and the males 38,68 cm (CCC); Pubertal females with an average of 77,04 cm and males 89,92 cm; mature females with 101,9 cm (CCC) and a single mature male with 105 cm. Researches on histological aspects related to ovarian and testicular development of sea turtles are scarce, but, the obtained results are in agreement with what has already been described. Researches like this, associating morphological and biometric data to histological analyzes, are necessary for the best knowledge about sexual maturity of these animals and implementation of conservation proposals for these species