Reproduction
Reproduction of the mosquitofish starts with the male arranging the rays of the gonopodium (modified anal fin) into a slight tube. The male mosquitofish will use this tubular fin to secrete milt into the female's genital aperture in the process of fertilization internal. The female's genital aperture is located just behind the anal fin and is an opening for the milt to fertilize the ova within the ovary. Mosquitofish are within the infraclass teleostei and as all teleosts, mosquitofish lack a uterus so production of oocytes and gestation occur within the ovary of a female mosquitofish. Inside the female, sperm from multiple males can be stored to later fertilize more ova. Based on laboratory experiments, the female mosquitofish is believed to be vitellogenic in nature during spring when the average temperature reaches about 14 °C (57 °F), and then the oocytes finish maturing when the average temperature reaches about 18 °C (64 °F). Then late in the summer when the photoperiod is less than 12.5 hours long, the next clutch of oocytes lose vitellogenesis. In one reproductive season a female may fertilize, with stored milt, 2 to 6 broods of embryos, with the size of the brood decreasing as the season progresses.
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