The kidneys of Teleosteans are situated likewise without the peritoneal cavity, immediately below some part of the vertebral column, and vary exceedingly with regard to form and extent. Sometimes they reach from the skull to between the muscles of the tail, sometimes they are limited to the foremost part of the abdominal cavity (in advance of the diaphragm), but generally their extent corresponds to that of the abdominal portion of the vertebral column. Frequently they are irregular on their dorsal surface, filling every available recess, flat, attenuated on the sides, more or less coalescent towards the middle; in other fishes they are more compact bodies. The ureters terminate, either separate or united, in a urinary bladder, varying in shape, which opens by a short urethra behind the vent. The urinary opening may be separate or confluent with that of the genital ducts, and is frequently placed on a more or less prominent papilla (papilla urogenitalis). If separate, the urinary opening is behind the genital; and if a papilla is developed, its extremity is perforated by the urethra, the genital opening being situated nearer the base. A few Teleosteans show an arrangement similar to that of Chondropterygians and Dipnoi, the urogenital openings being in the posterior wall of the rectum (Symbranchidæ, Pediculati, and some Plectognathi).
CHAPTER XII.
ORGANS OF REPRODUCTION.
All fishes are dioecious, or of distinct sex. Instances of so-called hermaphroditism are, with the exception of Serranus, abnormal individual peculiarities, and have been observed in the Cod-fish, some Pleuronectidæ, and in the Herring. Either the generative organ of one side was found to be male, that of the other female; or the organ of one or both sides was observed to have been developed partly into an ovary partly into a testicle. In the European species of Serranus a testicle-like body is attached to the lower part of the ovary; but many specimens of this genus are undoubtedly males, having normally developed testicles only.
The majority of fishes are oviparous, comparatively few viviparous; the embryos being developed either in the ovarium or in some dilated portion of the oviduct. In viviparous fishes actual copulation takes place, and the males of most of them are provided with copulatory or intromittent organs. In oviparous fishes the generative products are, during sexual excitement, discharged into the water, a very small quantity of semen being sufficient for effectual impregnation of a number of ova dispersed in a considerable quantity of water; circumstances which render artificial impregnation more practicable than in any other class of animals.
In Branchiostoma the generative organs occupy the ventral side of the abdominal cavity, into which they discharge their contents. No ducts are developed in either sex.
In the Cyclostomes the generative organ is single, and fixed to or suspended from the median line of the back of the visceral cavity by a duplicature of the peritoneum (mesoarium); the testicle and ovary being distinguishable by their contents only. These escape by dehiscence of the cells or capsules and rupture of the peritoneal covering into the abdominal cavity, and are expelled by reciprocal pressure of the intertwined sexes through the porus genitalis, which is sunk between two labia of the skin in Myxine, and produced into a long papilla in Petromyzon.
69.—Ovum of Myxine glutinosa, enlarged.
The ova of the Lampreys are small, globular, like those of Teleosteans. Those of Myxine have a very peculiar shape when mature; they are of an oval form, about 15 millimetres long and 8 millimetres broad, enveloped in a horny case, which at each end is provided with a bundle of short threads, each thread ending in a triple hook. Whilst in the mesoarial fold the eggs are attached to one another by means of these hooks, and after being expelled they probably fix themselves by the same means to other objects. As in all fishes producing ova of large size, the number of ova matured in one season is but small.
In Teleosteans the generative organs are comparatively large. In some families the ovaries are without closed covering and without oviducts, as in Salmonidæ, Galaxiidæ, Notopteridæ, Murænidæ, and others. The surface of such an open ovary—as, for instance, that of the Salmon—is transversely plaited, the ova being developed in capsules in the stroma of the laminæ; after rupture of the capsules the mature ova drop into the abdominal cavity, and are expelled by the porus genitalis. The ovaries of the other Teleosteans are closed sacs, continued into oviducts. Frequently such ovaries coalesce into a single body, or one in which the division is effected internally only by a more or less complete septum. Fixed by a mesoarium, the ovaries occupy generally a position outwards of the intestine or air-bladder; their form varies as well as the thickness and firmness of their covering, which frequently is an extremely thin transparent membrane. The inner surface of the ovarian sac is transversely or longitudinally plaited or covered with fringes, on which the ova are developed, as in the open ovaries. In the viviparous Teleosteans the embryons are likewise developed within the ovary, notably in the Embiotocidæ, many Blenniidæ, and Cyprinodontidæ, Sebastes viviparus, etc. Among the Cyprinodonts the end of the oviduct is attached to the anterior anal rays, which are modified into supports of its termination. In Rhodeus the oviduct is periodically prolonged into a long oviferous tube, by means of which the female deposits her ova into the shells of living Bivalves.