Well, I thought this one would surface faster ... here are my 2 cents worth:
the fishes Chris is asking about are bitterlings [Cyprinidae,
Acheilognathinae (Rhodeinae)] and we're talking, of course, of freshwater
clams. Along with the snailfishes mentioned by Colin they are grouped as
"Ostracophils" in Balon's ecoethological guilds of fishes (J. Fish. Res.
Bd.Can.,32: 821-864). The textbook picture of the fish with the long
ovipositor inserted into a clam has always stiked me, I'm sure that there
are many more recent treatments of this topic out there. Best to all.
 
Axa
 
 
At 09:25 AM 7/30/96 +1300, you wrote:
>I don't know anything about fish spawning in clams but there is an
>interesting case of fish spawning in the gill chamber of certaiin
>lithodid crabs. Female liparid fish, Careproctus spp., use their long
>ovipositor to lay large diameter eggs in the gill chambers of king
>crab, Paralithodes camschatica, North Pacific, the box crab,
>Lopholithodes foraminutus, off California and B.C., stone crab,
>Lithodes tropicalis, off Namibia, and Paralomis granulosa, off Chile.
>Strangely, the eggs are laid in only one gill chamber at a time.
>
>Some references are:
>Hunter (1969) Pac. Sci. 23: 546-547
>Peden & Corbet (1973) Can. J. Zool. 51: 555-556
>Melville-Smith & Louw (1987) Sth. Sfr. J. Zool. 22: 140-142
>
>Colin McLay.
>
>
>> Dear Fish-folks,
>>
>> A colleague of mine asked me to post the following message.  Please respond
>> to Ronn Altig, [log in to unmask]  Thanks.  Chris Taylor
>>
>> "There is a female fish that has a long ovipositional tube that she uses to
>> lay her eggs in a clam (via the siphon).
>> 1.  What is the family/genus/species?  2.  Structurally or developmentally,
>> what is that tube?  Does it serve only the genital opening or does she also
>> defecate through it?
>> Thanks!!  Ronn Altig."
>> *************************
>> Christopher M. Taylor, Ph.D.
>> Department of Biological Sciences
>> Mississippi State University
>> P.O. Drawer GY
>> Mississippi State, MS  39762
>> [log in to unmask]
>> Phone:  601-325-8591
>> FAX:  601-325-7939
>> *************************
>> Dr Colin McLay
>Zoology Department
>Canterbury University
>PB 4800, Christchurch
>New Zealand.
>Tel: +64 3 364 2887
>FAX:   +64 3 364 2024
>email: [log in to unmask]
>WWW Home Page: http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/zool/cm.htm
>
>
 
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Axayacatl Rocha-Olivares                      Phone: (619) 546-7104 |
| University of California, San Diego           Fax  : (619) 546-5656 |
| Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 0208                           |
| 9500 Gilman Drive                                                   |
| La Jolla, CA 92093-0208                   internet: [log in to unmask] |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+